Side pool interleaved wagering system

ABSTRACT

A side pool interleaved wagering system is disclosed. The system includes an interactive controller operatively connected to an application controller, the interactive controller constructed to: receive an indication to participate in a competition with one or more other users; communicate application telemetry associated with the interactive application; and receive an application resource. The system also includes a wager controller operatively connected to the application controller, the wager controller constructed to: receive a wager request; communicate funds for a side pool; generate a wager outcome; communicate the wager outcome; and receive funds from the side pool when the user is a winner of the competition. The system also includes the application controller operatively connecting the interactive controller to the wager controller by a network, the application controller constructed to: communicate a wager request based on received application telemetry; and communicate application resources based on received wager outcome.

CROSS REFERENCE TO RELATED APPLICATIONS

This application is a continuation of U.S. patent application Ser. No.14/535,816, filed Nov. 7, 2014, which claims the benefit of U.S.Provisional Patent Application No. 61/901,430, filed Nov. 7, 2013, thedisclosure of each of which is incorporated by reference herein in itsentirety.

This application references Patent Cooperation Treaty Application No.PCT/US11/26768, filed Mar. 1, 2011, Patent Cooperation TreatyApplication No. PCT/US11/63587, filed Dec. 6, 2011, and PatentCooperation Treaty Application No. PCT/US12/58156, filed Sep. 29, 2012,the contents of each of which are hereby incorporated by reference.

FIELD OF THE INVENTION

Embodiments of the present invention are generally related tocommunications within data processing systems. More particularly, thepresent invention relates to the communication and processing ofwagering data.

BACKGROUND

The gaming industry has traditionally developed electronic gamingmachines that present simple wagering games to a user. The communicationand processing needs for these simple wagering games are easily metusing conventional processing systems. However, more complicatedwagering games need communication and processing systems that are bettersuited for implementing these more complicated wagering games. Variousaspects of embodiments of the present invention meet such a need.

SUMMARY OF THE INVENTION

Systems and methods in accordance with embodiments of the inventionprovide a communication and data processing system constructed for aside pool interleaved wagering system.

One embodiment includes a side pool interleaved wagering system,comprising: an interactive controller operatively connected to anapplication controller, the interactive controller constructed to:receive, from a user, an indication to participate in a competition withone or more other users, wherein the competition is associated with aninteractive application provided by the interactive controller;communicate, to the application controller, application telemetryassociated with the interactive application; and receive, from theapplication controller, an application resource based on the applicationtelemetry; a wager controller operatively connected to the applicationcontroller, the wager controller constructed to: receive, from theapplication controller, a wager request; communicate, to a side poolcontroller, funds for a side pool, wherein the communicated funds are aportion of a wager amount associated with the wager request; generate awager outcome based on the wager request; communicate, to theapplication controller, the wager outcome; and receive, from the sidepool controller, funds from the side pool when the user is a winner ofthe competition; and the application controller operatively connectingthe interactive controller to the wager controller by a network, theapplication controller constructed to: receive, from the interactivecontroller, the application telemetry; communicate, to the wagercontroller, a wager request based on the received application telemetry;receive, from the wager controller, the wager outcome; and communicate,to the interactive controller, application resources based on the wageroutcome.

In a further embodiment, the interactive controller and the applicationcontroller are constructed from a same device, and the applicationcontroller is operatively connected to the wager controller by anetwork.

In a further embodiment, the wager controller and the applicationcontroller are constructed from a same device, and the applicationcontroller is operatively connected to the interactive controller by anetwork.

In a further embodiment, the application controller is operativelyconnected by the network to the wager controller and the interactivecontroller.

In a further embodiment, an amount of the funds communicated from thewager controller to the side pool controller is determined by the userand the one or more users in the competition.

In a further embodiment, an amount of funds communicated from the wagercontroller to the side pool controller is determined by an operator ofthe competition.

In a further embodiment, the funds for the side pool, communicated fromthe wager controller to the side pool controller, are communicatedbefore generating the wager outcome.

In a further embodiment, the funds for the side pool are communicatedfrom the wager controller to the side pool controller when the wageroutcome is successful, and the funds for the side pool are communicatedafter generating the wager outcome.

In a further embodiment, the application controller is furtherconstructed to: communicate, to a tournament controller, tournamentinformation comprising the received application telemetry; and receive,from the tournament controller, upon conclusion of the competition,competition results, and the tournament controller is constructed to:receive, from the interactive controller, the tournament information;determine a winner of the competition based on the received tournamentinformation; and communicate, to the application controller, competitionresults, including the winner of the competition.

In a further embodiment, the tournament controller is furtherconstructed to receive, from one or more interactive controllersassociated with the one or more other users in the competition,tournament information associated with the one or more other users, andthe determination of the winner of the competition is further based onthe received tournament information associated with the one or moreother users.

Another embodiment includes a networked application controller of a sidepool interleaved wagering system, comprising: an interactive controllerinterface operatively connecting the application controller to aninteractive controller of the side pool interleaved wagering system; awager controller interface operatively connecting the applicationcontroller to a wager controller of the side pool interleaved wageringsystem; and one or more processors constructed to: receive, from theinteractive controller, application telemetry associated with aninteractive application provided by the interactive controller, whereinthe interactive application is associated with a competition involving auser and one or more other users; communicate, to the wager controller,a wager request based on the received application telemetry, the wagerrequest triggering a communication of funds for a side pool from thewager controller to a side pool controller, the funds for the side poolbeing a portion of a wager amount associated with the wager request;receive, from the wager controller, the wager outcome; communicate, tothe interactive controller, application resources based on the wageroutcome; receive, from a tournament controller, upon completion of thecompetition, competition results; and communicate the competitionresults to the interactive controller.

BRIEF DESCRIPTION OF THE DRAWINGS

FIG. 1 is a diagram of a structure of a side pool interleaved wageringsystem in accordance with various embodiments of the invention.

FIGS. 2A, 2B, 2C, and 2D are illustrations of interactive controllers ofa side pool interleaved wagering system in accordance with variousembodiments of the invention.

FIGS. 3A, 3B and 3C are network diagrams of distributed side poolinterleaved wagering systems in accordance with various embodiments ofthe invention.

FIGS. 4A and 4B are diagrams of a structure of an interactive controllerof a side pool interleaved wagering system in accordance with variousembodiments of the invention.

FIGS. 5A and 5B are diagrams of a structure of a wager controller of aside pool interleaved wagering system in accordance with variousembodiments of the invention.

FIGS. 6A and 6B are diagrams of a structure of an application controllerof a side pool interleaved wagering system in accordance with variousembodiments of the invention.

FIGS. 7A and 7B are diagrams of a structure of a user management andsession controller of a side pool interleaved wagering system inaccordance with various embodiments of the invention.

FIG. 8 is a sequence diagram of interactions between components of aside pool interleaved wagering system in accordance with variousembodiments of the invention.

FIG. 9 is a collaboration diagram for components of a side poolinterleaved wagering system in accordance with various embodiments ofthe invention.

FIG. 10 is a diagram of interactions between various embodiments of thesystem and processes in accordance with various embodiments of theinvention.

FIG. 11 is a diagram of the structure of a side pool interleavedwagering system in accordance with various embodiments of the invention.

FIGS. 12A-12D are diagrams of various embodiments of structures of aside pool interleaved wagering system in accordance with the invention.

FIG. 13 is a sequence diagram of interactions between components of aside pool interleaved wagering system in accordance with variousembodiments of the invention.

DETAILED DESCRIPTION

A side pool interleaved wagering system interleaves wagering withnon-wagering activities. In some embodiments of a side pool interleavedwagering system an interactive application executed by an interactivecontroller provides non-wagering components of the side pool interleavedwagering system. The interactive controller is operatively connected toan application controller that manages and configures the interactiveapplication of the interactive controller and determines when wagersshould be interleaved with the operations of the interactiveapplication. The application controller is further operatively connectedto a wager controller that provides one or more wagering propositionsfor one or more wagers.

In some embodiments, the interactive controller also includes a wageringuser interface that is used to display data about a wagering process,including but not limited a wager outcome of a wager made in accordancewith a wagering proposition. The content of the wagering user interfaceis controlled by the application controller and includes contentprovided by the wager controller.

In several embodiments, a user or user interactions are represented in aside pool interleaved wagering system by the electronic representationof interactions between the user and the interactive application,typically received via a user interface of the interactive application,and a user profile of the side pool interleaved wagering systemassociated with the user.

Many different types of interactive applications may be utilized withthe side pool interleaved wagering system. In some embodiments, theinteractive application reacts to the physical activity of the user. Inthese embodiments, the user interacts with the interactive applicationthrough one or more sensors that monitor the user's physical activities.Such sensors may include, but are not limited to, physiological sensorsthat monitor the physiology of the user, environmental sensors thatmonitor the physical environment of the user, accelerometers thatmonitor changes in motion of the user, and location sensors that monitorthe location of the user such as global positioning sensors.

In some embodiments, the interactive application is a skill-basedinteractive game that is played by the user.

In some embodiments, the interactive application is a tool used by theuser to achieve some useful goal.

In operation, a user interacts with the interactive application usingvarious types of elements of the interactive application in aninteractive application environment. Elements are interactiveapplication resources utilized by the user within the interactiveapplication environment to provide an interactive experience for theuser. Wagers of credits are made in accordance with a wageringproposition as triggered by the user's use of one or more of theelements of the interactive application. Wager outcomes of wagers ofcredits made in accordance with the wagering proposition can causeconsumption, loss or accrual of credits.

In accordance with some embodiments, wager outcomes of wagering eventscan influence elements in the interactive application such as, but notlimited to, providing one or more new elements, restoring one or moreconsumed elements, causing the loss of one or more elements, andrestoration or placement of one or more fixed elements.

In various embodiments, the wagers may be made using one or more credits(Cr).

In some embodiments, Cr can be one or more credits that are purchasedusing, and redeemed in, a real world currency having a real world value.

In many embodiments, Cr can be one or more credits in a virtualcurrency. Virtual currency is an alternate currency that can beacquired, purchased or transferred by or to a user, but does notnecessarily directly correlate to a real world currency. In many suchembodiments, Cr in a virtual currency are allowed to be purchased usinga real world currency but are prevented from being redeemed in a realworld currency having a real world value.

In several embodiments, during interaction with the interactiveapplication using the elements, a user can optionally consume and/oraccrue application environment credit (AC) within the interactiveapplication as a result of the user's use of the interactiveapplication. AC can be in the form of, but is not limited to,application environment credits, experience points, and pointsgenerally.

In various embodiments, when the interactive application is askill-based interactive game, AC is awarded to a player of theskill-based interactive game on the basis of the player's skillful playof the skill-based interactive game. In such embodiments, AC may beanalogous to the score in a typical video game. The skill-basedinteractive game can have one or more scoring criteria, embedded withinan application controller and/or an interactive controller that providesthe skill-based interactive game, that reflect user performance againstone or more goals of the skill-based interactive game.

In many embodiments, AC can be used to purchase in-application items,including but not limited to, application elements that have particularproperties, power ups for existing items, and other item enhancements.

In some embodiments, AC may be used to earn entrance into a sweepstakesdrawing, to earn entrance in a tournament with prizes, to score in thetournament, and/or to participate and/or score in any other game event.

In several embodiments, AC can be stored on a user-tracking card or in anetwork-based user tracking system where the AC is attributed to aspecific user.

In many embodiments, a wagering proposition includes a wager of AC for awager outcome of a randomly generated payout of interactive applicationAC, elements, and/or objects in accordance with a wagering proposition.

In a number of embodiments, a wager of an amount of Cr results in awager outcome of a payout of AC, elements, and/or objects that have anCr value if cashed out.

In some embodiments, in a case that an interactive application is askill-based interactive game, interactive application objects includein-application objects that may be used by a player of the skill-basedinteractive game to enhance the player's gameplay of the skill-basedinteractive game. Such objects include, but are not limited to,power-ups, enhanced in-application items, and the like. In someembodiments, the interactive application objects include objects thatare detrimental to the player's play of the skill-based interactive gamesuch as, but not limited to, obstructions in the game space, a temporaryplayer handicap, an enhanced opponent, and the like.

In some embodiments, elements in an interactive application include, butare not limited to, enabling elements (EE) that are interactiveapplication environment resources utilized during the user's use of theinteractive application and whose utilization by the user while usingthe interactive application triggers execution of a wager in accordancewith a wagering proposition. In another embodiment, elements in aninteractive application include, but are not limited to, a reserveenabling element (REE), that is an element that converts into one ormore enabling elements upon occurrence of a release event during aninteractive user session. In yet another embodiment, elements in aninteractive application include, but are not limited to, an actionableelement (AE) that is an element that is acted upon during use of theinteractive application to trigger a wager in accordance with a wageringproposition and may or may not be restorable during normal play of theinteractive application. In yet another embodiment, elements in aninteractive application include, but are not limited to, a commonenabling element (CEE) that is an element that may be shared by two ormore users and causes a wagering event and associated wager to betriggered in accordance with the wagering proposition when used by oneof the users during use of the interactive application. In someembodiments, in progressing through interactive application use, a usercan utilize elements during interactions with a controlled entity (CE).A CE is a character, entity, inanimate object, device or other objectunder control of a user.

In accordance with some embodiments of a side pool interleaved wageringsystem, the triggering of the wagering event and/or wager can bedependent upon an interactive application environment variable such as,but not limited to, a required object (RO), a required environmentalcondition (REC), or a controlled entity characteristic (CEC). A RO is aspecific interactive application object in an interactive applicationacted upon for an AE to be completed. A non-limiting example of an RO isa specific key needed to open a door. An REC is an interactiveapplication state present within an interactive application for an AE tobe completed. A non-limiting example of an REC is daylight whosepresence enables a character to walk through woods. A CEC is a status ofthe CE within an interactive application for an AE to be completed. Anon-limiting example of a CEC is requirement that a CE have full healthpoints before entering battle. Although various interactive applicationresources such as, but not limited to, the types of interactiveapplication elements as discussed herein may be used to trigger a wagerin accordance with a wagering proposition, one skilled in the art willrecognize that any interactive application resource can be utilized in aside pool interleaved wagering system to trigger of a wager asappropriate to the specification of a specific application in accordancewith various embodiments of the invention.

In several embodiments, a side pool interleaved wagering system canutilize an application controller to monitor use of the interactiveapplication executed by an interactive controller for detecting atrigger of a wagering event. The trigger for the wagering event can bedetected by the application controller from the utilization of theinteractive application in accordance with at least one wagering eventoccurrence rule. The trigger of the wagering event can be communicatedto a wager controller. In response to notification of the trigger, thewager controller executes a wager in accordance with a wageringproposition. In addition, use of an interactive application in a sidepool interleaved wagering system can be modified by the applicationcontroller based upon the wager outcome.

In several embodiments, a wagering event occurrence can be determinedfrom one or more application environment variables within an interactiveapplication that are used to trigger a wager and/or associated wager inaccordance with a wagering proposition. Application environmentvariables can include, but are not limited to, passage of a period oftime during side pool interleaved wagering system interactiveapplication use, a result from a side pool interleaved wagering systeminteractive application user session (such as, but not limited to,achieving a goal or a particular score), a user action that is aconsumption of an element, or a user action that achieves a combinationof elements to be associated with a user profile.

In numerous embodiments, an interactive application instruction is aninstruction to an interactive controller and/or an interactiveapplication to modify an interactive application application state ormodify one or more interactive application resources. In someembodiments, the interactive application instructions may be based uponone or more of a wager outcome and application environment variables. Aninteractive application instruction can modify any aspect of aninteractive application, such as, but not limited to, an addition of aperiod of time available for a current interactive application usersession for the interactive application of side pool interleavedwagering system, an addition of a period of time available for a futureside pool interleaved wagering system interactive application usersession or any other modification to the interactive applicationelements that can be utilized during interactive application use. Insome embodiments, an interactive application instruction can modify atype of element whose consumption triggers a wagering event occurrence.In many embodiments, an interactive application instruction can modify atype of element whose consumption is not required in a wagering eventoccurrence.

In a number of embodiments, a user interface can be utilized thatdepicts a status of the interactive application in the side poolinterleaved wagering system. A user interface can depict any aspect ofan interactive application including, but not limited to, anillustration of side pool interleaved wagering system interactiveapplication use advancement as a user uses the side pool interleavedwagering system.

In some embodiments, a side pool interleaved wagering system includingan application controller operatively connected to a wager controllerand operatively connected to an interactive controller may provide forinterleaving entertainment content from an interactive application. Theside pool interleaved wagering system provides for random wager outcomesin accordance with the wagering proposition that are independent of userskill while providing an interactive experience to the user that may beshaped by the user's skill.

In several embodiments, an application controller of a side poolinterleaved wagering system may provide for a communications interfacefor asynchronous communications between a wager controller and aninteractive application provided by an interactive controller, byoperatively connecting the interactive controller, and thus theinteractive controller's interactive application, with the wagercontroller. In some embodiments, asynchronous communications providedfor by a side pool interleaved wagering system may reduce an amount ofidle waiting time by an interactive controller of the side poolinterleaved wagering system, thus increasing an amount of processingresources that the interactive controller may provide to an interactiveapplication or other processes of the interactive controller. In manyembodiments, asynchronous communications provided for by a side poolinterleaved wagering system reduces an amount of idle waiting time by awager controller, thus increasing an amount of processing resources thatthe wager controller may provide to execution of wagers to determinewager outcomes, and other processes provided by the wager controller. Insome embodiments, a wager controller of a side pool interleaved wageringsystem may be operatively connected to a plurality of interactivecontrollers through one or more application controllers and theasynchronous communications provided for by the one or more applicationcontrollers allows the wager controller to operate more efficiently andprovide wager outcomes to a larger number of interactive controllersthan would be achievable without the one or more application controllersof the side pool interleaved wagering system.

In some embodiments, a side pool interleaved wagering system includingan application controller operatively connected to a wager controllerand operatively connected to an interactive controller may provide forsimplified communication protocols for communications of the interactivecontroller as the interactive controller may communicate userinteractions with an interactive application provided by the interactivecontroller to the application controller without regard to a nature of awagering proposition to be interleaved with processes of the interactiveapplication.

In various embodiments, a side pool interleaved wagering systemincluding an application controller operatively connected to a wagercontroller and operatively connected to an interactive controller mayprovide for simplified communication protocols for communications of thewager controller as the wager controller may receive wager requests andcommunicate wager outcomes without regard to a nature of an interactiveapplication provided by the interactive controller.

Various types interleaved wagering systems are discussed in PatentCooperation Treaty Application No. PCT/US11/26768, filed Mar. 1, 2011,Patent Cooperation Treaty Application No. PCT/US11/63587, filed Dec. 6,2011, and Patent Cooperation Treaty Application No. PCT/US12/58156,filed Sep. 29, 2012, the contents of each of which are herebyincorporated by reference in their entirety.

Side Pool Wagering Interleaved Systems

FIG. 1 is a diagram of a structure of a side pool interleaved wageringsystem in accordance with various embodiments of the invention. The sidepool interleaved wagering system 128 includes an interactive controller120, an application controller 112, and a wager controller 102. Theinteractive controller 120 is operatively connected to, and communicateswith, the application controller 112. The application controller 112 isalso operatively connected to, and communicates with, the wagercontroller 102.

In several embodiments, the wager controller 102 is a controller forproviding one or more wagering propositions provided by the side poolinterleaved wagering system 128 and executes wagers in accordance withthe wagering propositions. Types of value of a wager can be one or moreof several different types. Types of value of a wager can include, butare not limited to, a wager of an amount of Cr corresponding to a realcurrency or a virtual currency, a wager of an amount of AC earned by theplayer through use of an interactive application, a wager of an amountof elements of an interactive application, and a wager of an amount ofobjects used in an interactive application. A wager outcome determinedfor a wager in accordance with a wagering proposition can increase ordecrease an amount of the type of value used in the wager, such as, butnot limited to, increasing an amount of Cr for a wager of Cr. In variousembodiments, a wager outcome determined for a wager in accordance with awagering proposition can increase or decrease an amount of a type ofvalue that is different than a type of value of the wager, such as, butnot limited to, increasing an amount of an object of an interactiveapplication for a wager of Cr.

In many embodiments, the wager controller 120 includes one or morepseudo random or random number generators (P/RNG) 106 for generatingrandom results, one or more paytables 108 for determining a wageroutcome from the random results, and one or more credit or value meters110 for storing amounts of wagered and won credits.

The one or more P/RNG generators 106 execute processes that can generaterandom or pseudo random results. The one or more paytables 108 aretables that can be used in conjunction with the random or pseudo randomresults to determine a wager outcome including an amount of Cr, AC,elements or objects won as a function of side pool interleaved wageringsystem use. There can be one or more paytables 108 in the wagercontroller 102. The paytables 108 are used to implement one or morewagering propositions in conjunction with a random output of the randomor pseudo random results.

In some embodiments, selection of a paytable to use to execute a wagercan be based on factors including, but not limited to, interactiveapplication progress a user has achieved through use of the interactiveapplication, user identification, and eligibility of the user for bonusrounds.

In various embodiments, the interactive controller 120 provides aninteractive application 143 and provides human input devices (HIDs) andoutput devices for interacting with the user 140. The interactivecontroller 120 provides for user interactions 142 with the interactiveapplication 143 by receiving input from a user through the HIDs andproviding outputs such as video, audio and/or other sensory output tothe user using the output devices.

The interactive controller 120 is operatively connected to, andcommunicates with, the application controller 112. The interactivecontroller communicates application telemetry data 124 to theapplication controller 112 and receives application instructions andresources 136 from the application controller 112. Via the communicationof application instructions and resources 136, the applicationcontroller 112 can communicate certain interactive application resourcesincluding control parameters to the interactive application 143 toaffect the interactive application's execution by the interactivecontroller 120. In various embodiments, these interactive applicationcontrol parameters can be based on a wager outcome of a wager that wastriggered by an element in the interactive application being utilized oracted upon by the user.

In some embodiments, execution of the interactive application by theinteractive controller 120 communicates user interactions with theinteractive application to the application controller 112. Theapplication telemetry data 124 includes, but is not limited to, theuser's utilization of the elements in the interactive application.

In some embodiments, the interactive application 143 is a skill-basedinteractive game. In such embodiments, execution of the skill-basedinteractive game by the interactive controller 120 is based on theuser's skillful play of the skill-based interactive game. Theinteractive controller 120 can also communicate user choices made in theskill-based interactive game to the application controller 112 includedin the application telemetry data 124 such as, but not limited to, theuser's utilization of the elements of the skill-based interactive gameduring the user's skillful play of the skill-based interactive game. Insuch an embodiment, the application controller is interfaced to theinteractive controller 120 in order to allow the coupling of theskill-based interactive game to wagers made in accordance with awagering proposition.

In some embodiments, the interactive controller 120 includes one or moresensors 138 that sense various aspects of the physical environment ofthe interactive controller 120. Examples of sensors include, but are notlimited to: global positioning sensors (GPSs) for sensing communicationsfrom a GPS system to determine a position or location of the interactivecontroller; temperature sensors; accelerometers; pressure sensors; andthe like. Sensor telemetry data 128 is communicated by the interactivecontroller to the application controller 112. The application controller112 receives the sensor telemetry data 128 and uses the sensorytelemetry data to make wager decisions.

In many embodiments, the interactive controller includes a wagering userinterface 148 used to display wagering data to the user.

In various embodiments, an application control layer 131 resident in theinteractive controller 120 provides an interface between the interactivecontroller 120 and the application controller 112.

In many embodiments, application controller 112 provides an interfacebetween the interactive application 143 provided by the interactivecontroller 120 and a wagering proposition provided by the wagercontroller 102.

In some embodiments, the application controller 112 includes aninteractive controller interface 160 to an interactive controller. Theinteractive controller interface 160 provides for the communication ofdata between the interactive controller and the application controller,including but not limited to wager telemetry data 146, applicationinstructions and resources 136, application telemetry data 124, andsensor telemetry data 128.

In various embodiments, the application controller 112 includes a wagercontroller interface 162 to a wager controller. The wager controllerinterface 162 provides for communication of data between the applicationcontroller 112 and the wager controller, including but not limited towager outcome data 130 and wager data 129.

In some embodiments, the application controller 112 includes a usermanagement and session controller interface 164 to a user management andsession controller. The user management and session controller interface164 provides for communication of data between the applicationcontroller 112 and the user management and session controller, includingbut not limited to user session control data 154 and user sessiontelemetry data 152.

The application controller 112 includes a business rule decision engine122 that receives telemetry data, such as application telemetry data 124and sensor telemetry data 128, from the interactive controller 120. Thebusiness rule decision engine 122 uses the telemetry data, along withtrigger logic 126 to generate wager data 129 used to trigger a wager inthe wager controller 102.

In some embodiments, the application telemetry data 124 includes, but isnot limited to, application environment variables that indicate thestate of the interactive application 143 being used by a user 140,interactive controller data indicating the state of the interactivecontroller, and user actions and interactions 142 between the user andthe interactive application 143 provided by the interactive controller120. The wagering and/or wager data 129 may include, but is not limitedto, an amount and type of the wager, a trigger of the wager, and aselection of a paytable 108 to be used when executing the wager.

In some embodiments, the business rule decision engine 122 also receiveswager outcome data 130 from the wager controller 102. The decisionengine 122 uses the wager outcome data 130, in conjunction with thetelemetry data and application logic 132 to generate applicationdecisions 134 communicated to an application resource generator 138. Theapplication resource generator 138 receives the application decisionsand uses the application decisions to generate application instructionsand application resources 136 to be communicated to the interactiveapplication 143.

In many embodiments, the application controller 112 includes a pseudorandom or random result generator used to generate random results thatare communicated to the application resource generator 138. Theapplication resource generator 138 uses the random results to generateapplication instructions and application resources 136 to becommunicated to the interactive application 143.

In various embodiments, the business rule decision engine 122 alsodetermines an amount of AC to award to the user 140 based at least inpart on the user's use of the interactive application of the side poolinterleaved wagering system as determined from the application telemetrydata 124. In some embodiments, wager outcome data 130 may also be usedto determine the amount of AC that should be awarded to the user.

In numerous embodiments, the interactive application is a skill-basedinteractive game and the AC is awarded to the user for the user'sskillful play of the skill-based interactive game.

In some embodiments, the application decisions 134 and wager outcomedata 130 are communicated to a wagering user interface generator 144.The wagering user interface generator 144 receives the applicationdecisions 134 and wager outcome data 130 and generates wager telemetrydata 146 describing the state of wagering and credit accumulation andloss for the side pool interleaved wagering system. In some embodiments,the wager telemetry data 146 may include, but is not limited to, amountsof AC and elements earned, lost or accumulated by the user through useof the interactive application as determined from the applicationdecisions, and Cr amounts won, lost or accumulated as determined fromthe wager outcome data 130 and the one or more meters 110.

In some embodiments, the wager outcome data 130 also includes data aboutone or more game states of a gambling game executed in accordance with awagering proposition by the wager controller 102. In various suchembodiments, the wagering user interface generator 144 generates agambling game process display and/or gambling game state display usingthe one or more game states of the gambling game. The gambling gameprocess display and/or gambling game state display is included in thewager telemetry data 146 that is communicated to the interactivecontroller 120. The gambling game process display and/or a gambling gamestate display is displayed by the wagering user interface 148 to theuser 140. In other such embodiments, the one or more game states of thegambling game are communicated to the interactive controller 120 and thewagering user interface 148 generates the gambling game process displayand/or gambling game state display using the one or more game states ofthe gambling game for display to the user 140.

The application controller 112 can further operatively connect to thewager controller 102 to determine an amount of credit or elementsavailable and other wagering metrics of a wagering proposition. Thus,the application controller 112 may potentially affect an amount of Cr inplay for participation in the wagering events of a wagering gameprovided by the wager controller 102 in some embodiments. Theapplication controller 112 may additionally include various audit logsand activity meters. In some embodiments, the application controller 112can also couple to a centralized server for exchanging various datarelated to the user and the activities of the user during game play of aside pool interleaved wagering system.

In many embodiments, one or more users can be engaged in using theinteractive application executed by the interactive controller 120. Invarious embodiments, a side pool interleaved wagering system can includean interactive application that provides a skill-based interactive gamethat includes head-to-head play between a single user and a computingdevice, between two or more users against one another, or multiple usersplaying against a computer device and/or each other. In someembodiments, the interactive application can be a skill-basedinteractive game where the user is not skillfully playing against thecomputer or any other user such as skill-based interactive games wherethe user is effectively skillfully playing against himself or herself.

In some embodiments, the operation of the application controller 112does not affect the provision of a wagering proposition by the wagercontroller 102 except for user choice parameters that are allowable inaccordance with the wagering proposition. Examples of user choiceparameters include, but are not limited to: wager terms such as but notlimited to a wager amount; speed of game play (for example, by pressinga button or pulling a handle of a slot machine); and/or agreement towager into a bonus round.

In various embodiments, wager outcome data 130 communicated from thewager controller 102 can also be used to convey a status operation ofthe wager controller 102.

In a number of embodiments, communication of the wager data 129 betweenthe wager controller 102 and the application controller 112 can furtherbe used to communicate various wagering control factors that the wagercontroller 102 uses as input. Examples of wagering control factorsinclude, but are not limited to, an amount of Cr, AC, elements, orobjects consumed per wagering event, and/or the user's election to entera jackpot round.

In some embodiments, the application controller 112 utilizes thewagering user interface 148 to communicate certain interactiveapplication data to the user, including but not limited to, club points,user status, control of the selection of choices, and messages which auser can find useful in order to adjust the interactive applicationexperience or understand the wagering status of the user in accordancewith the wagering proposition in the wager controller 102.

In some embodiments, the application controller 112 utilizes thewagering user interface 148 to communicate aspects of a wageringproposition to the user including, but not limited to, odds of certainwager outcomes, amount of Cr, AC, elements, or objects in play, andamounts of Cr, AC, elements, or objects available.

In a number of embodiments, the wager controller 102 can accept wagerproposition factors including, but not limited to, modifications in theamount of Cr, AC, elements, or objects wagered on each individualwagering event, a number of wagering events per minute the wagercontroller 102 can resolve, entrance into a bonus round, and otherfactors. An example of a varying wager amount that the user can choosecan include, but is not limited to, using a more difficult interactiveapplication level associated with an amount of a wager. These factorscan increase or decrease an amount wagered per individual wageringproposition in the same manner that a standard slot machine player candecide to wager more or less credits for each pull of the handle. Inseveral embodiments, the wager controller 102 can communicate a numberof factors back and forth to the application controller 112, via aninterface, such that an increase/decrease in a wagered amount can berelated to the change in user profile of the user in the interactiveapplication. In this manner, a user can control a wager amount perwagering event in accordance with the wagering proposition with thechange mapping to a parameter or component that is applicable to theinteractive application experience.

In some embodiments, a user management and session controller 150 isused to authorize a side pool interleaved wagering system user session.The user management and session controller receives game user sessiondata 152, that may include, but is not limited to, user, interactivecontroller, application controller and wager controller data from theapplication controller 112. The user management and session controller150 uses the user, interactive controller, application controller andwager controller data to regulate a side pool interleaved wageringsystem user session. In some embodiments, the user management andsession controller may also assert control of a side pool interleavedwagering system game user session 154. Such control may include, but isnot limited to, ending a side pool interleaved wagering system game usersession, initiating wagering in a side pool interleaved wagering systemgame user session, ending wagering in a side pool interleaved wageringsystem game user session but not ending a user's play of the interactiveapplication portion of the side pool interleaved wagering system game,and changing from real credit wagering in a side pool interleavedwagering system to virtual credit wagering, or vice versa.

In various embodiments, the application controller operates as aninterface between the interactive controller and the wager controller.By virtue of this construction, the wager controller is isolated fromthe interactive controller allowing the interactive controller tooperate in an unregulated environment will allowing the wager controllerto operate in a regulated environment.

In some embodiments, a single wager controller may provide services totwo or more interactive controllers and/or two or more applicationcontrollers, thus allowing a side pool interleaved wagering system tooperate over a large range of scaling.

In various embodiments, multiple types of interactive controllers usingdifferent operating systems may be interfaced to a single type ofapplication controller and/or wager controller without requiringcustomization of the application controller and/or the wager controller.

In many embodiments, an interactive controller may be provided as a userdevice under control of a user while maintaining the wager controller inan environment under the control of a regulated operator of wageringequipment.

In several embodiments, data communicated between the controllers may beencrypted to increase security of the side pool interleaved wageringsystem.

In some embodiments, the application controller isolates trigger logicand application logic as unregulated logic from a regulated wagercontroller, thus allowing errors in the application logic and/or triggerlogic to be corrected, new application logic and/or trigger logic to beused, or modifications to be made to the application logic and/ortrigger logic without a need for regulatory approval.

Side Pool Interleaved Wagering System Controllers

FIGS. 2A, 2B, 2C, and 2D are illustrations of interactive controllers ofa side pool interleaved wagering system in accordance with variousembodiments of the invention. An interactive controller, such asinteractive controller 120 of FIG. 1, may be constructed from orconfigured using one or more processing devices configured to performthe operations of the interactive controller. An interactive controllermay be constructed from or configured using an electronic gaming machine200 as shown in FIG. 2A. The electronic gaming machine 200 may bephysically located in various types of gaming establishments. Aninteractive controller may be constructed from or configured using aportable device 202 as shown in FIG. 2B. The portable device 202 is adevice that may wirelessly connect to a network. Examples of portabledevices include, but are not limited to, a tablet computer, a personaldigital assistant, and a smartphone. An interactive controller may beconstructed from or configured using a gaming console 204 as shown inFIG. 2C. An interactive controller may be constructed from or configuredusing a personal computer 206 as shown in FIG. 2D. Indeed, aninteractive controller in a side pool interleaved wagering system may beconstructed from or configured using any processing device includingsufficient processing and communication capabilities that may beconfigured to perform the processes of an interactive controller inaccordance with various embodiments of the invention.

Some side pool interleaved wagering systems in accordance with manyembodiments of the invention can operate with their components beingnetwork connected or can communicate with other side pool interleavedwagering systems. In many embodiments, operations associated withcomponents of a side pool interleaved wagering system can be performedon a single device or across multiple devices. These multiple devicescan be constructed from or configured using a single server or aplurality of servers such that a side pool interleaved wagering systemis executed as a system in a virtualized space such as, but not limitedto, where a wager controller and an application controller are largescale centralized servers in the cloud operatively connected to widelydistributed interactive controllers via a wide area network such as theInternet or a local area network. In such embodiments, the components ofa side pool interleaved wagering system may communicate using anetworking protocol or other type of device-to-device communicationsprotocol.

In many embodiments, a centralized wager controller is operativelyconnected to, and communicates with, one or more application controllersvia a network. The centralized wager controller can generate wageroutcomes for wagers in accordance with one or more wageringpropositions. The centralized wager controller can execute a number ofsimultaneous or pseudo-simultaneous wagers in order to generate wageroutcomes for a variety of wagering propositions that one or morenetworked side pool interleaved wagering systems can use.

In several embodiments, a centralized application controller isoperatively connected to one or more interactive controllers and one ormore wager controllers via a network. The centralized applicationcontroller can perform the functionality of an application controlleracross various side pool interleaved wagering systems.

In a variety of embodiments, management of user profile data can beperformed by a user management and session controller operativelyconnected to, and communicating with, one or more applicationcontrollers, wager controllers and interactive controllers via anetwork. A user management and session controller can manage datarelated to a user profile. The managed data in the user profile mayinclude, but is not limited to, data concerning controlled entities(characters) in interactive application use, user performance metricsfor a type or class of interactive application, interactive applicationelements acquired by a user; Cr and AC associated with a particularuser, and tournament reservations.

Although a user management and session controller is discussed as beingseparate from an application controller server, a centralizedapplication controller server may also perform the functions of a usermanagement and session controller in some embodiments.

In a number of embodiments, an application controller of a side poolinterleaved wagering system can communicate data to a user managementand session controller. The data communicated by the applicationcontroller to the user management and session controller may include,but is not limited to, AC and Cr used in an interactive application;user profile data; user interaction activity; profile data for users;synchronization data between a wager controller and an interactiveapplication; and data about other aspects of a side pool interleavedwagering system. In several embodiments, a user management and sessioncontroller can communicate user data to an application controller of aside pool interleaved wagering system. The user data may include, but isnot limited to, interactive application title and type; tournament data;special offers; character or profile setup and synchronization databetween a wagering game and an interactive application; and data aboutany other aspect of a side pool interleaved wagering system.

In numerous embodiments, an interactive application server provides ahost for managing head-to-head play operating over a network ofinteractive controllers connected to the interactive application servervia a network. The interactive application server provides anenvironment where users can compete directly with one another andinteract with other users.

Processing devices connected via a network to construct side poolinterleaved wagering systems in accordance with many embodiments of theinvention can communicate with each other to provide services utilizedby a side pool interleaved wagering system. In several embodiments, awager controller can communicate with an application controller over anetwork. In some embodiments, the wager controller can communicate withan application controller to communicate any type of data as appropriatefor a specific application. Examples of the data that may becommunicated include, but are not limited to, data used to configure thevarious simultaneous or pseudo simultaneous wager controllers executingin parallel within the wager controller to accomplish side poolinterleaved wagering system functionalities; data used to determinemetrics of wager controller performance such as wagers run and/or wageroutcomes for tracking system performance; data used to perform auditsand/or provide operator reports; and data used to request the results ofa wager outcome for use in one or more function(s) operating within theapplication controller such as, but not limited to, automatic drawingsfor prizes that are a function of interactive controller performance.

In several embodiments, an application controller can communicate withan interactive application server via a network when the interactiveapplication server is also communicating with one or more interactivecontrollers over a network. An application controller can communicatewith an interactive application server to communicate any type of dataas appropriate for a specific application. The data that may becommunicated between an application controller and an interactiveapplication server includes, but is not limited to, the data formanagement of an interactive application server by an applicationcontroller server during a side pool interleaved wagering systemtournament. In an example embodiment, an application controller may notbe aware of the relationship of the application controller to the restof a tournament since the actual tournament play may be managed by theinteractive application server. Therefore, management of a side poolinterleaved wagering system can include, but is not limited to tasksincluding, but not limited to, conducting tournaments according tosystem programming that can be coordinated by an operator of the sidepool interleaved wagering system; allowing entry of a particular userinto a tournament; communicating the number of users in a tournament;and the status of the tournament (such as, but not limited to the amountof surviving users, the status of each surviving user within the game,and time remaining on the tournament); communicating the performance ofusers within the tournament; communicating the scores of the varioususers in the tournament; and providing a synchronizing link to connectthe application controllers in a tournament with their respectiveinteractive controllers.

In several embodiments, an application controller can communicate with auser management and session controller via a network. An applicationcontroller can communicate with a user management and session controllerto communicate any type of data as appropriate for a specificapplication. Examples of data communicated between an applicationcontroller and a user management and session controller include, but arenot limited to, data for configuring tournaments according to systemprogramming conducted by an operator of a side pool interleaved wageringsystem; data for exchange of data used to link a user's user profile toan ability to participate in various forms of side pool interleavedwagering system use (such as but not limited to the difficulty of playset by the application controller server for an interactive applicationthat is a skill-based interactive game); data for determining a user'sability to participate in a tournament as a function of a user'scharacteristics (such as but not limited to a user's prowess or othermetrics used for tournament screening); data for configuring applicationcontroller and interactive controller performance to suit preferences ofa user on a particular side pool interleaved wagering system; and datafor determining a user's use and wagering performance for the purposesof marketing intelligence; and data for logging secondary drawingawards, tournament prizes, Cr and/or AC into the user profile.

In many embodiments, the actual location of where various process areexecuted can be located either on a single device (wager controller,application controller, interactive controller), on servers (wagercontroller, application controller, or interactive application server),or a combination of both devices and servers. In a number ofembodiments, certain functions of a wager controller, applicationcontroller, user management and session controller and/or interactiveapplication server can operate on a local wager controller, applicationcontroller and/or interactive controller used to construct a side poolinterleaved wagering system being provided locally on a device. In someembodiments, a controller or server can be part of a server systemincluding multiple servers, where applications can be run on one or morephysical devices. Similarly, in particular embodiments, multiple serverscan be combined on a single physical device.

Some side pool interleaved wagering systems in accordance with manyembodiments of the invention can be distributed across a network invarious configurations. FIGS. 3A, 3B and 3C are network diagrams ofnetworked side pool interleaved wagering systems in accordance withvarious embodiments of the invention. Turning now to FIG. 3A, one ormore interactive controllers of a networked side pool interleavedwagering system, such as but not limited to, a mobile or wireless device300, a gaming console 302, a personal computer 304, and an electronicgaming machine 305, are operatively connected with a wager controller306 of a networked side pool interleaved wagering system over a network308. Network 308 is communications network that allows processingsystems communicate with each other and to share data. Examples of thenetwork 308 can include, but are not limited to, a Local Area Network(LAN) and a Wide Area Network (WAN). In some embodiments, one or moreprocesses of an interactive controller and an application controller asdescribed herein are executed on the individual interactive controllers300, 302, 304 and 305 while one or more processes of a wager controlleras described herein can be executed by the wager controller 306.

A networked side pool interleaved wagering system in accordance withanother embodiment of the invention is illustrated in FIG. 3B. Asillustrated, one or more interactive controllers of a networked sidepool interleaved wagering system, such as but not limited to, a mobileor wireless device 310, a gaming console 312, a personal computer 314,and an electronic gaming machine 315, are operatively connected with awager controller server 316 and an application controller 318 over anetwork 320. Network 320 is a communications network that allowsprocessing systems to communicate and share data. Examples of thenetwork 320 can include, but are not limited to, a Local Area Network(LAN) and a Wide Area Network (WAN). In some embodiments, the processesof an interactive controller as described herein are executed on theindividual interactive controllers 310, 312, 314 and 315. One or moreprocesses of a wager controller as described herein are executed by thewager controller 316, and one or more processes of an applicationcontroller as described herein are executed by the applicationcontroller 318.

A networked side pool interleaved wagering systems in accordance withstill another embodiment of the invention is illustrated in FIG. 3C. Asillustrated, one or more interactive controllers of a networked sidepool interleaved wagering system, such as but not limited to, a mobiledevice 342, a gaming console 344, a personal computer 346, and anelectronic gaming machine 340 are operatively connected with a wagercontroller 348 and an application controller 350, and an interactiveapplication server 352 over a network 354. Network 354 is acommunications network that allows processing systems communicate and toshare data. Examples of the network 354 can include, but are not limitedto, a Local Area Network (LAN) and a Wide Area Network (WAN). In someembodiments, one or more processes of a display and user interface of aninteractive controller as described herein are executed on theindividual interactive controllers 340, 342, 344 and 346. One or moreprocesses of a wager controller as described herein can be executed bythe wager controller server 348. One or more processes of an applicationcontroller as described herein can be executed by the applicationcontroller server 350 and one or more processes of an interactivecontroller excluding the display and user interfaces can be executed bythe interactive application server 352.

In various embodiments, a user management and session controller may beoperatively connected to components of a side pool interleaved wageringsystem via a network. In other embodiments, a number of other peripheralsystems, such as a user management system, a gaming establishmentmanagement system, a regulatory system, and/or hosting servers are alsooperatively connected with the side pool interleaved wagering systemsover a network. Also, other servers can reside outside the bounds of anetwork within a firewall of the operator to provide additional servicesfor network connected side pool interleaved wagering systems.

Although various networked side pool interleaved wagering systems aredescribed herein, side pool interleaved wagering systems can benetworked in any configuration as appropriate to the specification of aspecific application in accordance with embodiments of the invention. Insome embodiments, components of a networked side pool interleavedwagering system, such as an application controller, wager controller,interactive controller, or other servers that perform services for anapplication controller, wager controller and/or interactive controller,can be networked in different configurations for a specific networkedside pool interleaved wagering system application.

FIGS. 4A and 4B are diagrams of a structure of an interactive controllerof a side pool interleaved wagering system in accordance with variousembodiments of the invention. An interactive controller may beconstructed from or configured using one or more processing devicesconfigured to perform the operations of the interactive controller. Inmany embodiments, an interactive controller can be constructed from orconfigured using various types of processing devices including, but notlimited to, a mobile device such as a smartphone or the like, a personaldigital assistant, a wireless device such as a tablet computer or thelike, an electronic gaming machine, a personal computer, a gamingconsole, a set-top box, a computing device, a controller, or the like.

Referring now to FIG. 4A, an interactive controller 400, suitable foruse as interactive controller 120 of FIG. 1, provides an executionenvironment for an interactive application 402 of a side poolinterleaved wagering system. In several embodiments, an interactivecontroller 400 of a side pool interleaved wagering system provides aninteractive application 402 that generates an application user interface404 for interaction with by a user. The interactive application 402generates a user presentation 406 that is presented to the user throughthe application user interface 404. The user presentation 406 mayinclude audio features, visual features or tactile features, or anycombination of these features. The application user interface 404further includes one or more human input devices (HIDs) interfaces thatcommunicate with one or more HIDs (e.g., the input devices 514 of FIG.4b ) that the user can use to interact with the side pool interleavedwagering system. The user's interactions 408 are included by theinteractive application 402 in application telemetry data 410 that iscommunicated by interactive controller 400 to various other componentsof a side pool interleaved wagering system as described herein. Theinteractive application 402 receives application instructions andresources 412 communicated from various other components of a side poolinterleaved wagering system as described herein.

In some embodiments, various components of the interactive application402 can read data from an application state 414 in order to provide oneor more features of the interactive application. In various embodiments,components of the interactive application 402 can include, but are notlimited to, a physics engine, a rules engine, and/or a graphics engine.The physics engine is used to simulate physical interactions betweenvirtual objects in the interactive application 402. The rules engineimplements the rules of the interactive application and a P/RNG that maybe used for influencing or determining certain variables and/or outcomesto provide a randomizing influence on the operations of the interactiveapplication. The graphics engine is used to generate a visualrepresentation of the interactive application state to the user.Furthermore, the components may also include an audio engine to generateaudio outputs for the user interface.

During operation, the interactive application reads and writesapplication resources 416 stored on a data store of the interactivecontroller host. The application resources 416 may include objectshaving graphics and/or control logic used to provide applicationenvironment objects of the interactive application. In variousembodiments, the resources may also include, but are not limited to,video files that are used to generate a portion of the user presentation406; audio files used to generate music, sound effects, etc. within theinteractive application; configuration files used to configure thefeatures of the interactive application; scripts or other types ofcontrol code used to provide various features of the interactiveapplication; and graphics resources such as textures, objects, etc. thatare used by a graphics engine to render objects displayed in aninteractive application.

In operation, components of the interactive application 402 readportions of the application state 414 and generate the user presentation406 for the user that is presented to the user using the user interface404. The user perceives the user presentation and provides userinteractions 408 using the HIDs. The corresponding user interactions arereceived as user actions or inputs by various components of theinteractive application 402. The interactive application 402 translatesthe user actions into interactions with the virtual objects of theapplication environment stored in the application state 414. Componentsof the interactive application use the user interactions with thevirtual objects of the interactive application and the interactiveapplication state 414 to update the application state 414 and update theuser presentation 406 presented to the user. The process loopscontinuously while the user interacts with the interactive applicationof the side pool interleaved wagering system.

The interactive controller 400 provides one or more interfaces 418between the interactive controller 400 and other components of a sidepool interleaved wagering system, such as, but not limited to, anapplication controller. The interactive controller 400 and the otherside pool interleaved wagering system components communicate with eachother using the interfaces. The interface may be used to pass varioustypes of data, and to communicate and receive messages, status data,commands and the like. In certain embodiments, the interactivecontroller 400 and an application controller communicate applicationinstructions and environment resources 412 and application telemetrydata 410. In some embodiments, the communications include requests bythe application controller that the interactive controller 400 updatethe application state 414 using data provided by the applicationcontroller.

In many embodiments, a communication by an application controllerincludes a request that the interactive controller 400 update one ormore resources 416 using data provided by the application controller. Ina number of embodiments, the interactive controller 400 provides all ora portion of the application state to the application controller. Insome embodiments, the interactive controller 400 may also provide dataabout one or more of the application resources 416 to the applicationcontroller. In some embodiments, the communication includes userinteractions that the interactive controller 400 communicates to theapplication controller. The user interactions may be low level userinteractions with the user interface 404, such as manipulation of a HID,or may be high level interactions with game objects as determined by theinteractive application. The user interactions may also includeresultant actions such as modifications to the application state 414 orgame resources 416 resulting from the user's interactions taken in theside pool interleaved wagering system interactive application. In someembodiments, user interactions include, but are not limited to, actionstaken by entities such as non-player characters (NPC) of the interactiveapplication that act on behalf of or under the control of the user.

In some embodiments, the interactive controller 400 includes a wageringuser interface 420 used to communicate side pool interleaved wageringsystem telemetry data 422 to and from the user. The side poolinterleaved wagering system telemetry data 422 from the side poolinterleaved wagering system include, but are not limited to, data usedby the user to configure Cr, AC and element wagers, and data about thewagering game Cr, AC and element wagers such as, but not limited to, Cr,AC and element balances and Cr, AC and element amounts wagered.

In some embodiments, the interactive controller includes one or moresensors 424. Such sensors may include, but are not limited to,physiological sensors that monitor the physiology of the user,environmental sensors that monitor the physical environment of theinteractive controller, accelerometers that monitor changes in motion ofthe interactive controller, and location sensors that monitor thelocation of the interactive controller such as global positioningsensors (GPSs). The interactive controller 400 communicates sensortelemetry data 426 to one or more components of the side poolinterleaved wagering system.

Referring now to FIG. 4B, interactive controller 400 includes a bus 502that provides an interface for one or more processors 504, random accessmemory (RAM) 506, read only memory (ROM) 508, machine-readable storagemedium 510, one or more user output devices 512, one or more user inputdevices 514, and one or more communication interface devices 516.

The one or more processors 504 may take many forms, such as, but notlimited to: a central processing unit (CPU); a multi-processor unit(MPU); an ARM processor; a controller; a programmable logic device; orthe like.

In the example embodiment, the one or more processors 504 and the randomaccess memory (RAM) 506 form an interactive controller processing unit599. In some embodiments, the interactive controller processing unitincludes one or more processors operatively connected to one or more ofa RAM, ROM, and machine-readable storage medium; the one or moreprocessors of the interactive controller processing unit receiveinstructions stored by the one or more of a RAM, ROM, andmachine-readable storage medium via a bus; and the one or moreprocessors execute the received instructions. In some embodiments, theinteractive controller processing unit is an ASIC (Application-SpecificIntegrated Circuit). In some embodiments, the interactive controllerprocessing unit is a SoC (System-on-Chip).

Examples of output devices 512 include, but are not limited to, displayscreens; light panels; and/or lighted displays. In accordance withparticular embodiments, the one or more processors 504 are operativelyconnected to audio output devices such as, but not limited to: speakers;and/or sound amplifiers. In accordance with many of these embodiments,the one or more processors 504 are operatively connected to tactileoutput devices like vibrators, and/or manipulators.

Examples of user input devices 514 include, but are not limited to:tactile devices including but not limited to, keyboards, keypads, footpads, touch screens, and/or trackballs; non-contact devices such asaudio input devices; motion sensors and motion capture devices that theinteractive controller can use to receive inputs from a user when theuser interacts with the interactive controller; physiological sensorsthat monitor the physiology of the user; environmental sensors thatmonitor the physical environment of the interactive controller;accelerometers that monitor changes in motion of the interactivecontroller; and location sensors that monitor the location of theinteractive controller such as global positioning sensors.

The one or more communication interface devices 516 provide one or morewired or wireless interfaces for communicating data and commands betweenthe interactive controller 400 and other devices that may be included ina side pool interleaved wagering system. Such wired and wirelessinterfaces include, but are not limited to: a Universal Serial Bus (USB)interface; a Bluetooth interface; a Wi-Fi interface; an Ethernetinterface; a Near Field Communication (NFC) interface; a plain oldtelephone system (POTS) interface, a cellular or satellite telephonenetwork interface; and the like.

The machine-readable storage medium 510 stores machine-executableinstructions for various components of the interactive controller, suchas but not limited to: an operating system 518; one or more devicedrivers 522; one or more application programs 520 including but notlimited to an interactive application; and side pool interleavedwagering system interactive controller instructions 524 for use by theone or more processors 504 to provide the features of an interactivecontroller as described herein. In some embodiments, themachine-executable instructions further include application controllayer/application control interface instructions 526 for use by the oneor more processors 504 to provide the features of an application controllayer/application control interface as described herein.

In various embodiments, the machine-readable storage medium 510 is oneof a (or a combination of two or more of) a hard drive, a flash drive, aDVD, a CD, a flash storage, a solid state drive, a ROM, an EEPROM, andthe like.

In operation, the machine-executable instructions are loaded into memory506 from the machine-readable storage medium 510, the ROM 508 or anyother storage location. The respective machine-executable instructionsare accessed by the one or more processors 504 via the bus 502, and thenexecuted by the one or more processors 504. Data used by the one or moreprocessors 504 are also stored in memory 506, and the one or moreprocessors 504 access such data during execution of themachine-executable instructions. Execution of the machine-executableinstructions causes the one or more processors 504 to control theinteractive controller 400 to provide the features of a side poolinterleaved wagering system interactive controller as described herein

Although the interactive controller is described herein as beingconstructed from or configured using one or more processors andinstructions stored and executed by hardware components, the interactivecontroller can be constructed from or configured using only hardwarecomponents in accordance with other embodiments. In addition, althoughthe storage medium 510 is described as being operatively connected tothe one or more processors through a bus, those skilled in the art ofinteractive controllers will understand that the storage medium caninclude removable media such as, but not limited to, a USB memorydevice, an optical CD ROM, magnetic media such as tape and disks. Insome embodiments, the storage medium 510 can be accessed by the one ormore processors 504 through one of the communication interface devices516 or over a network. Furthermore, any of the user input devices oruser output devices can be operatively connected to the one or moreprocessors 504 via one of the communication interface devices 516 orover a network.

In some embodiments, the interactive controller 400 can be distributedacross a plurality of different devices. In many such embodiments, aninteractive controller of a side pool interleaved wagering systemincludes an interactive application server operatively connected to aninteractive client over a network. The interactive application serverand interactive application client cooperate to provide the features ofan interactive controller as described herein.

In various embodiments, the interactive controller 400 may be used toconstruct other components of a side pool interleaved wagering system asdescribed herein.

In some embodiments, components of an interactive controller and anapplication controller of a side pool wagering interleaved system may beconstructed from or configured using a single device using processesthat communicate using an interprocess communication protocol. In othersuch embodiments, the components of an interactive controller and anapplication controller of a side pool wagering interleaved system maycommunicate by passing messages, parameters or the like.

In some embodiments, components of an interactive controller, anapplication controller and a wager controller of a side pool wageringinterleaved system may be constructed from or configured using a singledevice using processes that communicate using an interprocesscommunication protocol. In other such embodiments, the components of aninteractive controller, an application controller and a wager controllerof a side pool wagering interleaved system may communicate by passingmessages, parameters or the like.

FIGS. 5A and 5B are diagrams of a structure of a wager controller of aside pool interleaved wagering system in accordance with variousembodiments of the invention. A wager controller may be constructed fromor configured using one or more processing devices configured to performthe operations of the wager controller. In many embodiments, a wagercontroller can be constructed from or configured using various types ofprocessing devices including, but not limited to, a mobile device suchas a smartphone or the like, a personal digital assistant, a wirelessdevice such as a tablet computer or the like, an electronic gamingmachine, a personal computer, a gaming console, a set-top box, acomputing device, a controller, or the like.

Referring now to FIG. 5A, in various embodiments, a wager controller604, suitable for use as wager controller 102 of FIG. 1, includes apseudorandom or random number generator (P/RNG) 620 to produce randomresults or pseudo random results; one or more paytables 623 whichincludes a plurality of factors indexed by the random result to bemultiplied with an amount of Cr, AC, elements, or objects committed in awager; and a wagering control module 622 whose processes may include,but are not limited to, generating random results, looking up factors inthe paytables, multiplying the factors by an amount of Cr, AC, elements,or objects wagered, and administering one or more Cr, AC, element, orobject meters 626. The various wager controller components can interfacewith each other via an internal bus 625 and/or other appropriatecommunication mechanism.

An interface 628 allows the wager controller 604 to operatively connectto an external device, such as one or more application controllers asdescribed herein. The interface 628 provides for receiving of wager data629 from the external device that is used to specify wager parametersand/or trigger execution of a wager by the wager controller 604. Theinterface 628 may also provide for communicating wager outcome data 631to an external device. In numerous embodiments, the interface betweenthe wager controller 604 and other systems/devices may be a wide areanetwork (WAN) such as the Internet. However, other methods ofcommunication may be used including, but not limited to, a local areanetwork (LAN), a universal serial bus (USB) interface, and/or some othermethod by which two electronic devices could communicate with eachother.

In various embodiments, a wager controller 604 may use a P/RNG providedby an external system. The external system may be connected to the wagercontroller 604 by a suitable communication network such as a local areanetwork (LAN) or a wide area network (WAN). In some embodiments, theexternal P/RNG is a central deterministic system that provides random orpseudo random results to one or more connected wager controllers.

During operation of the wager controller, the external systemcommunicates wager data 629 to the wager controller 604. The wagercontroller 604 receives the wager data and uses the wager data totrigger execution of a wager in accordance with a wagering proposition.The wager controller 604 executes the wager and determines a wageroutcome for the wager. The wager controller communicates wager outcomedata 631 of the wager outcome to the external system.

In some embodiments, the wager controller uses the wager data to selecta paytable 628 to use and/or an amount of Cr, AC, elements, or objectsto wager.

In some embodiments, the wager outcome data may include, but is notlimited to, an amount of Cr, AC, elements, or objects won in the wager.

In various embodiments, the wager outcome data may include, but is notlimited to, an amount of Cr, AC, elements, or objects in the one or moremeters 626.

In some embodiments, the wager outcome data includes state data for thewagering proposition of the executed wager. The state data maycorrespond to one or more game states of a gambling game that isassociated with the wagering proposition. Examples of state datainclude, but are not limited to, reel strips in an operation state or afinal state for a reel-based gambling game, one or more dice positionsfor a dice-based gambling game, positions of a roulette wheel androulette ball, position of a wheel of fortune, or the like.

In various embodiments, the wagering control module 622 determines anamount of a wager and a paytable to use from the one or more paytables623. In such embodiments, in response to the wager data triggeringexecution of the wager, the wager control module 622 executes the wagerby requesting a P/RNG result from the P/RNG 620; retrieving a paytablefrom the one or more paytables 623; adjusting the one or more creditmeters 626 for an amount of the wager; applying the P/RNG result to theretrieved paytable; multiplying the resultant factor from the paytableby an amount wagered to determine a wager outcome; updating the one ormore meters 626 based on the wager outcome; and communicating the wageroutcome to the external device.

In various embodiments, an external system communicates a request for aP/RNG result from the wager controller 604. In response, the wagercontroller 604 returns a P/RNG result as a function of an internal P/RNGor a P/RNG external to the external system to which the wager controller604 is operatively connected.

In some embodiments, a communication exchange between the wagercontroller 604 and an external system relate to the external systemsupport for coupling a P/RNG result to a particular paytable containedin the wager controller 604. In such an exchange, the external systemcommunicates to the wager controller 604 as to which of the one or morepaytables 623 to use, and requests a result whereby the P/RNG resultwould be associated with the requested paytable 623. The result of thecoupling is returned to the external system. In such an exchange, noactual Cr, AC, element, or object wager is conducted, but might beuseful in coupling certain non-value wagering interactive applicationbehaviors and propositions to the same final resultant wagering returnwhich is understood for the side pool interleaved wagering system toconduct wagering.

In some embodiments, the wager controller 604 may also include storagefor statuses, wagers, wager outcomes, meters and other historical eventsin a storage device 616.

In some embodiments, an authorization access module provides a processto permit access and command exchange with the wager controller 604 andaccess to the one or more credit meters 626 for the amount of Cr, AC,elements, or objects being wagered by the user in the side poolinterleaved wagering system.

In numerous embodiments, communication occurs between various types of awager controller and an external system 630, such as applicationcontroller. In some of these embodiments, the purpose of the wagercontroller is to allocate wagers to pools, detect occurrences of one ormore events upon which the wagers were made, and determine the wageroutcomes for each individual wager based on the number of winning wagersand the amount paid into the pool.

In some embodiments, the wager controller manages accounts forindividual users wherein the users make deposits into the accounts,amounts are deducted from the accounts, and amounts are credited to theusers' accounts based on the wager outcomes.

In some embodiments a wager controller is a pari-mutuel wagering systemsuch as used for wagering on an events such as horse races, greyhoundraces, sporting events and the like. In a pari-mutuel wagering system,user's wagers on the outcome of an event are allocated to a pool. Whenthe event occurs, wager outcomes are calculated by sharing the poolamong all winning wagers.

In various embodiments, a wager controller is a central determinationsystem, such as but not limited to a central determination system for aClass II wagering system or a wagering system in support of a “scratchoff” style lottery. In such a wagering system, a player plays againstother players and competes for a common prize. In a given set of wageroutcomes, there are a certain number of wins and losses. Once a certainwager outcome has been determined, the same wager outcome cannot occuragain until a new set of wager outcomes is generated.

In numerous embodiments, communication occurs between various componentsof a wager controller 604 and an external system, such as an applicationcontroller. In some of these embodiments, the purpose of the wagercontroller 604 is to manage wagering on wagering events and to providerandom (or pseudo random) results from a P/RNG.

Referring now to FIG. 5B, wager controller 604 includes a bus 732 thatprovides an interface for one or more processors 734, random accessmemory (RAM) 736, read only memory (ROM) 738, machine-readable storagemedium 740, one or more user output devices 742, one or more user inputdevices 744, and one or more communication interface and/or networkinterface devices 746.

The one or more processors 734 may take many forms, such as, but notlimited to, a central processing unit (CPU), a multi-processor unit(MPU), an ARM processor, a controller, a programmable logic device, orthe like.

In the example embodiment, the one or more processors 734 and the randomaccess memory (RAM) 736 form a wager controller processing unit 799. Insome embodiments, the wager controller processing unit includes one ormore processors operatively connected to one or more of a RAM, ROM, andmachine-readable storage medium; the one or more processors of the wagercontroller processing unit receive instructions stored by the one ormore of a RAM, ROM, and machine-readable storage medium via a bus; andthe one or more processors execute the received instructions. In someembodiments, the wager controller processing unit is an ASIC(Application-Specific Integrated Circuit). In some embodiments, thewager controller processing unit is a SoC (System-on-Chip).

Examples of output devices 742 include, but are not limited to, displayscreens, light panels, and/or lighted displays. In accordance withparticular embodiments, the one or more processors 734 are operativelyconnected to audio output devices such as, but not limited to speakers,and/or sound amplifiers. In accordance with many of these embodiments,the one or more processors 734 are operatively connected to tactileoutput devices like vibrators, and/or manipulators.

Examples of user input devices 734 include, but are not limited to,tactile devices including but not limited to, keyboards, keypads, touchscreens, and/or trackballs; non-contact devices such as audio inputdevices; motion sensors and motion capture devices that the wagercontroller can use to receive inputs from a user when the user interactswith the wager controller 604.

The one or more communication interface and/or network interface devices746 provide one or more wired or wireless interfaces for exchanging dataand commands between the wager controller 604 and other devices that maybe included in a side pool interleaved wagering system. Such wired andwireless interfaces include, but are not limited to: a Universal SerialBus (USB) interface; a Bluetooth interface; a Wi-Fi interface; anEthernet interface; a Near Field Communication (NFC) interface; a plainold telephone system (POTS) interface; a cellular or satellite telephonenetwork interface; and the like.

The machine-readable storage medium 740 stores machine-executableinstructions for various components of a wager controller, such as butnot limited to: an operating system 748; one or more applicationprograms 750; one or more device drivers 752; and side pool interleavedwagering system wager controller instructions 754 for use by the one ormore processors 734 to provide the features of a side pool interleavedwagering system wager controller as described herein.

In various embodiments, the machine-readable storage medium 740 is oneof a (or a combination of two or more of) a hard drive, a flash drive, aDVD, a CD, a flash storage, a solid state drive, a ROM, an EEPROM, andthe like.

In operation, the machine-executable instructions are loaded into memory736 from the machine-readable storage medium 740, the ROM 738 or anyother storage location. The respective machine-executable instructionsare accessed by the one or more processors 734 via the bus 732, and thenexecuted by the one or more processors 734. Data used by the one or moreprocessors 734 are also stored in memory 736, and the one or moreprocessors 734 access such data during execution of themachine-executable instructions. Execution of the machine-executableinstructions causes the one or more processors 734 to control the wagercontroller 604 to provide the features of a side pool interleavedwagering system wager controller as described herein

Although the wager controller 604 is described herein as beingconstructed from or configured using one or more processors andmachine-executable instructions stored and executed by hardwarecomponents, the wager controller can be composed of only hardwarecomponents in accordance with other embodiments. In addition, althoughthe storage medium 740 is described as being operatively connected tothe one or more processors through a bus, those skilled in the art ofprocessing devices will understand that the storage medium can includeremovable media such as, but not limited to, a USB memory device, anoptical CD ROM, magnetic media such as tape and disks. In someembodiments, the storage medium 740 can be accessed by the one or moreprocessors 734 through one of the interfaces or over a network.Furthermore, any of the user input devices or user output devices can beoperatively connected to the one or more processors 734 via one of theinterfaces or over a network.

In various embodiments, the wager controller 604 may be used toconstruct other components of a side pool interleaved wagering system asdescribed herein.

In some embodiments, components of a wager controller and an applicationcontroller of a side pool wagering interleaved system may be constructedfrom or configured using a single device using processes thatcommunicate using an interprocess communication protocol. In other suchembodiments, the components of a wager controller and an applicationcontroller of a side pool wagering interleaved system may communicate bypassing messages, parameters or the like.

It should be understood that there may be many embodiments of a wagercontroller 604 which could be possible, including forms where manymodules and components of the wager controller are located in variousservers and locations, so the foregoing is not meant to be exhaustive orall inclusive, but rather provide data on various embodiments of a wagercontroller 604.

FIGS. 6A and 6B are diagrams of a structure of an application controllerof a side pool interleaved wagering system in accordance with variousembodiments of the invention. An application controller may beconstructed from or configured using one or more processing devicesconfigured to perform the operations of the application controller. Inmany embodiments, an application controller can be constructed from orconfigured using various types of processing devices including, but notlimited to, a mobile device such as a smartphone, a personal digitalassistant, a wireless device such as a tablet computer or the like, anelectronic gaming machine, a personal computer, a gaming console, aset-top box, a computing device, a controller, or the like.

Referring now to FIG. 6A, in many embodiments, an application controller860, suitable for use as application controller 112 of FIG. 1, managesoperation of a side pool interleaved wagering system, with a wagercontroller and an interactive controller being support units to theapplication controller 860. The application controller 860 provides aninterface between the interactive application, provided by aninteractive controller, and a wagering proposition, provided by a wagercontroller.

In some embodiments, the application controller 860 includes aninteractive controller interface 800 to an interactive controller. Theinteractive controller interface 800 provides for communication of databetween an interactive controller and the application controller 860,including but not limited to wager telemetry data 802, applicationinstructions and resources 804, application telemetry data 806, andsensor telemetry data 810.

In various embodiments, the application controller 860 includes a wagercontroller interface 812 to a wager controller. The wager controllerinterface 812 provides for communication of data between the applicationcontroller 860 and a wager controller, including but not limited towager outcomes 814 and wager data 816.

In some embodiments, the application controller 860 includes a usermanagement and session controller interface 818 to a user management andsession controller. The user management and session controller interface818 provides for communication of data between the applicationcontroller 860 and a user management and session controller, includingbut not limited to user session control data 820 and user sessiontelemetry data 822.

The application controller 860 includes a business rule decision engine824 that receives telemetry data, such as application telemetry data andsensor telemetry data, from an interactive controller. The business ruledecision engine 824 uses the telemetry data, along with trigger logic826 to generate wager data used to trigger a wager in a wagercontroller.

In some embodiments, the application telemetry data includes, but is notlimited to, application environment variables that indicate the state ofan interactive application being used by a user, interactive controllerdata indicating a state of an interactive controller, and user actionsand interactions between a user and an interactive application providedby an interactive controller. The wagering and/or wager data mayinclude, but is not limited to, an amount and type of the wager, atrigger of the wager, and a selection of a paytable to be used whenexecuting the wager.

In some embodiments, the business rule decision engine 824 also receiveswager outcome data from a wager controller. The decision engine 824 usesthe wager outcome data, in conjunction with telemetry data andapplication logic 828 to generate application decisions 830 communicatedto an application resource generator 832. The application resourcegenerator 832 receives the application decisions and uses theapplication decisions to generate application instructions andapplication resources to be communicated to an interactive application.

In many embodiments, the application controller 860 includes a pseudorandom or random result generator used to generate random results thatare communicated to the application resource generator 832. Theapplication resource generator uses the random results to generateapplication instructions and application resources to be communicated toan interactive controller for use by an interactive application.

In various embodiments, the business rule decision engine 824 alsodetermines an amount of AC to award to a user based at least in part onthe user's use of an interactive application of the side poolinterleaved wagering system as determined from application telemetrydata. In some embodiments, wager outcome data may also be used todetermine the amount of AC that should be awarded to the user.

In numerous embodiments, an interactive application is a skill-basedinteractive game and the AC is awarded to the user for the user'sskillful play of the skill-based interactive game.

In some embodiments, the application decisions and wager outcome dataare communicated to a wagering user interface generator 834. Thewagering user interface generator 834 receives the application decisionsand wager outcome data and generates wager telemetry data describing thestate of wagering and credit accumulation and loss for the side poolinterleaved wagering system. In some embodiments, the wager telemetrydata 146 may include, but is not limited to, amounts of AC and elementsearned, lost or accumulated by the user through use of the interactiveapplication as determined from the application decisions, and Cr amountswon, lost or accumulated as determined from the wager outcome data andthe one or more credit meters.

In some embodiments, the wager outcome data 814 also includes data aboutone or more game states of a gambling game executed in accordance with awagering proposition by a wager controller. In various such embodiments,the wagering user interface generator 834 generates a gambling gameprocess display and/or gambling game state display using the one or moregame states of the gambling game. The gambling game process displayand/or gambling game state display is included in wager telemetry datathat is communicated to an interactive controller. The gambling gameprocess display and/or a gambling game state display is displayed by awagering user interface of the interactive controller to a user. Inother such embodiments, the one or more game states of the gambling gameare communicated to an interactive controller and a wagering userinterface of the interactive controller generates a gambling gameprocess display and/or gambling game state display using the one or moregame states of the gambling game for display to a user.

The application controller 860 can further operatively connect to awager controller to determine an amount of credit or elements availableand other wagering metrics of a wagering proposition. Thus, theapplication controller 860 may potentially affect an amount of Cr inplay for participation in the wagering events of a wagering gameprovided by the wager controller. The application controller 860 mayadditionally include various audit logs and activity meters. In someembodiments, the application controller 860 can also couple to acentralized server for exchanging various data related to the user andthe activities of the user during game play of a side pool interleavedwagering system.

In some embodiments, the operation of the application controller 860does not affect the provision of a wagering proposition by a wagercontroller except for user choice parameters that are allowable inaccordance with the wagering proposition. Examples of user choiceparameters include, but are not limited to: wager terms such as but notlimited to a wager amount; speed of game play (for example, by pressinga button or pulling a handle of a slot machine); and/or agreement towager into a bonus round.

In a number of embodiments, communication of wager data between a wagercontroller and the application controller 860 can further be used tocommunicate various wagering control factors that the wager controlleruses as input. Examples of wagering control factors include, but are notlimited to, an amount of Cr, AC, elements, or objects consumed perwagering event, and/or the user's election to enter a jackpot round.

In some embodiments, the application controller 860 utilizes a wageringuser interface to communicate certain interactive application data tothe user, including but not limited to, club points, user status,control of the selection of user choices, and messages which a user canfind useful in order to adjust the interactive application experience orunderstand the wagering status of the user in accordance with thewagering proposition in the wager controller.

In some embodiments, the application controller 860 utilizes a wageringuser interface to communicate aspects of a wagering proposition to theuser including, but not limited to, odds of certain wager outcomes,amount of Cr, AC, elements, or objects in play, and amounts of Cr, AC,elements, or objects available.

In a number of embodiments, a wager controller can accept wagerproposition factors including, but not limited to, modifications in theamount of Cr, AC, elements, or objects wagered on each individualwagering event, a number of wagering events per minute the wagercontroller can resolve, entrance into a bonus round, and other factors.In several embodiments, the application controller 860 can communicate anumber of factors back and forth to the wager controller, such that anincrease/decrease in a wagered amount can be related to the change inuser profile of the user in the interactive application. In this manner,a user can control a wager amount per wagering event in accordance withthe wagering proposition with the change mapping to a parameter orcomponent that is applicable to the interactive application experience.

Referring now to FIG. 6B, application controller 860 includes a bus 861providing an interface for one or more processors 863, random accessmemory (RAM) 864, read only memory (ROM) 865, machine-readable storagemedium 866, one or more user output devices 867, one or more user inputdevices 868, and one or more communication interface and/or networkinterface devices 869.

The one or more processors 863 may take many forms, such as, but notlimited to: a central processing unit (CPU); a multi-processor unit(MPU); an ARM processor; a programmable logic device; or the like.

Examples of output devices 867 include, include, but are not limited to:display screens; light panels; and/or lighted displays. In accordancewith particular embodiments, the one or more processors 863 areoperatively connected to audio output devices such as, but not limitedto: speakers; and/or sound amplifiers. In accordance with many of theseembodiments, the one or more processors 863 are operatively connected totactile output devices like vibrators, and/or manipulators.

In the example embodiment, the one or more processors 863 and the randomaccess memory (RAM) 864 form an application controller processing unit870. In some embodiments, the application controller processing unitincludes one or more processors operatively connected to one or more ofa RAM, ROM, and machine-readable storage medium; the one or moreprocessors of the application controller processing unit receiveinstructions stored by the one or more of a RAM, ROM, andmachine-readable storage medium via a bus; and the one or moreprocessors execute the received instructions. In some embodiments, theapplication controller processing unit is an ASIC (Application-SpecificIntegrated Circuit). In some embodiments, the application controllerprocessing unit is a SoC (System-on-Chip).

Examples of user input devices 868 include, but are not limited to:tactile devices including but not limited to, keyboards, keypads, footpads, touch screens, and/or trackballs; non-contact devices such asaudio input devices; motion sensors and motion capture devices that theapplication controller can use to receive inputs from a user when theuser interacts with the application controller 860.

The one or more communication interface and/or network interface devices869 provide one or more wired or wireless interfaces for exchanging dataand commands between the application controller 860 and other devicesthat may be included in a side pool interleaved wagering system. Suchwired and wireless interfaces include, but are not limited to: aUniversal Serial Bus (USB) interface; a Bluetooth interface; a Wi-Fiinterface; an Ethernet interface; a Near Field Communication (NFC)interface; a plain old telephone system (POTS), cellular, or satellitetelephone network interface; and the like.

The machine-readable storage medium 866 stores machine-executableinstructions for various components of the application controller 860such as, but not limited to: an operating system 871; one or moreapplications 872; one or more device drivers 873; and side poolinterleaved wagering system application controller instructions 874 foruse by the one or more processors 863 to provide the features of anapplication controller as described herein.

In various embodiments, the machine-readable storage medium 870 is oneof a (or a combination of two or more of) a hard drive, a flash drive, aDVD, a CD, a flash storage, a solid state drive, a ROM, an EEPROM, andthe like.

In operation, the machine-executable instructions are loaded into memory864 from the machine-readable storage medium 866, the ROM 865 or anyother storage location. The respective machine-executable instructionsare accessed by the one or more processors 863 via the bus 861, and thenexecuted by the one or more processors 863. Data used by the one or moreprocessors 863 are also stored in memory 864, and the one or moreprocessors 863 access such data during execution of themachine-executable instructions. Execution of the machine-executableinstructions causes the one or more processors 863 to control theapplication controller 860 to provide the features of a side poolinterleaved wagering system application controller as described herein.

Although the application controller 860 is described herein as beingconstructed from or configured using one or more processors andinstructions stored and executed by hardware components, the applicationcontroller can be composed of only hardware components in accordancewith other embodiments. In addition, although the storage medium 866 isdescribed as being operatively connected to the one or more processorsthrough a bus, those skilled in the art of application controllers willunderstand that the storage medium can include removable media such as,but not limited to, a USB memory device, an optical CD ROM, magneticmedia such as tape and disks. Also, in some embodiments, the storagemedium 866 may be accessed by processor 863 through one of theinterfaces or over a network. Furthermore, any of the user input devicesor user output devices may be operatively connected to the one or moreprocessors 863 via one of the interfaces or over a network.

In various embodiments, the application controller 860 may be used toconstruct other components of a side pool interleaved wagering system asdescribed herein.

In some embodiments, components of a wager controller and an applicationcontroller of a side pool wagering interleaved system may be constructedfrom or configured using a single device using processes thatcommunicate using an interprocess communication protocol. In other suchembodiments, the components of a wager controller and an applicationcontroller of a side pool wagering interleaved system may communicate bypassing messages, parameters or the like.

In some embodiments, components of an interactive controller and anapplication controller of a side pool wagering interleaved system may beconstructed from or configured using a single device using processesthat communicate using an interprocess communication protocol. In othersuch embodiments, the components of an interactive controller and anapplication controller of a side pool wagering interleaved system maycommunicate by passing messages, parameters or the like.

In numerous embodiments, any of a wager controller, an applicationcontroller, or an interactive controller as described herein can beconstructed from or configured using multiple processing devices,whether dedicated, shared, or distributed in any combination thereof, orcan be constructed from or configured using a single processing device.In addition, while certain aspects and features of side pool interleavedwagering system processes described herein have been attributed to awager controller, an application controller, or an interactivecontroller, these aspects and features can be provided in a distributedform where any of the features or aspects can be provided by any of awager controller, an application controller, and/or an interactivecontroller within a side pool interleaved wagering system withoutdeviating from the spirit of the invention.

FIGS. 7A and 7B are diagrams of a structure of a user management andsession controller of a side pool interleaved wagering system inaccordance with various embodiments of the invention. A user managementand session controller may be constructed from or configured using oneor more processing devices configured to perform the operations of theuser management and session controller. In many embodiments, a wageruser session can be constructed from or configured using various typesof processing devices including, but not limited to, a mobile devicesuch as a smartphone or the like, a personal digital assistant, awireless device such as a tablet computer or the like, an electronicgaming machine, a personal computer, a gaming console, a set-top box, acomputing device, a controller, a server, or the like.

Referring now to FIG. 7A, in various embodiments, a user management andsession controller 1104, suitable for use as user management and sessioncontroller 150 of FIG. 1, includes a user management and session controlmodule 1106 whose processes may include, but are not limited to,registering users of a side pool wagering interleaved system, validatingusers of a side pool wagering interleaved system using user registrationdata, managing various types of user sessions for users of the side poolwagering interleaved system, and the like.

The user management and session controller 1104 may further include adatastore 1108 storing user data used to manage user registration andvalidation. The user management and session controller 1104 may furtherinclude a datastore 1110 storing user session data used to manage one ormore user sessions.

The various user management and session controller components caninterface with each other via an internal bus 1112 and/or otherappropriate communication mechanism.

An interface 1114 allows the user management and session controller 1104to operatively connect to one or more external devices, such as one ormore application controllers, wager controllers and/or interactivecontrollers as described herein. The interface provides for receivingsession telemetry data 1116 from the one more external devices. The usersession telemetry data includes, but is not limited to, amounts of ACearned by one or more users, requests for entering into a side pool usersession as described herein, and telemetry data regarding the progressof one or more users during a side pool user session. The interface 1114may also provide for communicating secession control data 1118 used tomanage a user session.

In numerous embodiments, the interface between the user management andsession controller and other systems/devices may be a wide area network(WAN) such as the Internet. However, other methods of communication maybe used including, but not limited to, a local area network (LAN), auniversal serial bus (USB) interface, and/or some other method by whichtwo electronic devices could communicate with each other.

During operation of the user management and session controller, theexternal system communicates user session telemetry data to the usermanagement and session controller. The user management and sessioncontroller receives the user session telemetry data and uses the usersession telemetry data to generate user session control data asdescribed herein. The user management and session controllercommunicates the user session control data to the external system.

Referring now to FIG. 7B, user management and session controller 1104includes a bus 1132 that provides an interface for one or moreprocessors 1134, random access memory (RAM) 1136, read only memory (ROM)1138, machine-readable storage medium 1140, one or more user outputdevices 1142, one or more user input devices 1144, and one or morecommunication interface and/or network interface devices 1146.

The one or more processors 1134 may take many forms, such as, but notlimited to, a central processing unit (CPU), a multi-processor unit(MPU), an ARM processor, a controller, a programmable logic device, orthe like.

In the example embodiment, the one or more processors 1134 and therandom access memory (RAM) 1136 form a user management and sessioncontroller processing unit 1199. In some embodiments, the usermanagement and session controller processing unit includes one or moreprocessors operatively connected to one or more of a RAM, ROM, andmachine-readable storage medium; the one or more processors of the usermanagement and session controller processing unit receive instructionsstored by the one or more of a RAM, ROM, and machine-readable storagemedium via a bus; and the one or more processors execute the receivedinstructions. In some embodiments, the user management and sessioncontroller processing unit is an ASIC (Application-Specific IntegratedCircuit). In some embodiments, the user management and sessioncontroller processing unit is a SoC (System-on-Chip).

Examples of output devices 1142 include, but are not limited to, displayscreens, light panels, and/or lighted displays. In accordance withparticular embodiments, the one or more processors 1134 are operativelyconnected to audio output devices such as, but not limited to speakers,and/or sound amplifiers. In accordance with many of these embodiments,the one or more processors 1134 are operatively connected to tactileoutput devices like vibrators, and/or manipulators.

Examples of user input devices 1144 include, but are not limited to,tactile devices including but not limited to, keyboards, keypads, touchscreens, and/or trackballs; non-contact devices such as audio inputdevices; motion sensors and motion capture devices that the usermanagement and session controller can use to receive inputs from a userwhen the user interacts with the user management and session controller1104.

The one or more communication interface and/or network interface devices1146 provide one or more wired or wireless interfaces for exchangingdata and commands between the user management and session controller1104 and other devices that may be included in a side pool interleavedwagering system. Such wired and wireless interfaces include, but are notlimited to: a Universal Serial Bus (USB) interface; a Bluetoothinterface; a Wi-Fi interface; an Ethernet interface; a Near FieldCommunication (NFC) interface; a plain old telephone system (POTS)interface; a cellular or satellite telephone network interface; and thelike.

The machine-readable storage medium 1140 stores machine-executableinstructions for various components of a user management and sessioncontroller, such as but not limited to: an operating system 1148; one ormore application programs 1150; one or more device drivers 1152; andside pool interleaved wagering system user management and sessioncontroller instructions 1154 for use by the one or more processors 1134to provide the features of a side pool interleaved wagering system usermanagement and session controller as described herein.

In various embodiments, the machine-readable storage medium 1140 is oneof a (or a combination of two or more of) a hard drive, a flash drive, aDVD, a CD, a flash storage, a solid state drive, a ROM, an EEPROM, andthe like.

In operation, the machine-executable instructions are loaded into memory736 from the machine-readable storage medium 1140, the ROM 1138 or anyother storage location. The respective machine-executable instructionsare accessed by the one or more processors 1134 via the bus 1132, andthen executed by the one or more processors 1134. Data used by the oneor more processors 1134 are also stored in memory 1136, and the one ormore processors 1134 access such data during execution of themachine-executable instructions. Execution of the machine-executableinstructions causes the one or more processors 1134 to control the usermanagement and session controller 1104 to provide the features of a sidepool interleaved wagering system user management and session controlleras described herein

Although the user management and session controller 1104 is describedherein as being constructed from or configured using one or moreprocessors and machine-executable instructions stored and executed byhardware components, the user management and session controller can becomposed of only hardware components in accordance with otherembodiments. In addition, although the storage medium 1140 is describedas being operatively connected to the one or more processors through abus, those skilled in the art of processing devices will understand thatthe storage medium can include removable media such as, but not limitedto, a USB memory device, an optical CD ROM, magnetic media such as tapeand disks. In some embodiments, the storage medium 1140 can be accessedby the one or more processors 1134 through one of the interfaces or overa network. Furthermore, any of the user input devices or user outputdevices can be operatively connected to the one or more processors 1134via one of the interfaces or over a network.

In various embodiments, the user management and session controller 1104may be used to construct other components of a side pool interleavedwagering system as described herein.

In some embodiments, components of a user management and sessioncontroller and an application controller of a side pool wageringinterleaved system may be constructed from or configured using a singledevice using processes that communicate using an interprocesscommunication protocol. In other such embodiments, the components of auser management and session controller and an application controller ofa side pool wagering interleaved system may communicate by passingmessages, parameters or the like.

In some embodiments, components of a user management and sessioncontroller and a wager controller of a side pool wagering interleavedsystem may be constructed from or configured using a single device usingprocesses that communicate using an interprocess communication protocol.In other such embodiments, the components of a user management andsession controller and an application controller of a side pool wageringinterleaved system may communicate by passing messages, parameters orthe like.

It should be understood that there may be many embodiments of a usermanagement and session controller 1104 which could be possible,including forms where many modules and components of the user managementand session controller are located in various servers and locations, sothe foregoing is not meant to be exhaustive or all inclusive, but ratherprovide data on various embodiments of a user management and sessioncontroller 1104.

In numerous embodiments, any of a wager controller, an applicationcontroller, an interactive controller, or a user management and sessioncontroller as described herein can be constructed from or configuredusing multiple processing devices, whether dedicated, shared, ordistributed in any combination thereof, or can be constructed from orconfigured using a single processing device. In addition, while certainaspects and features of side pool interleaved wagering system processesdescribed herein have been attributed to a wager controller, anapplication controller, an interactive controller, or a user managementand session controller, these aspects and features can be provided in adistributed form where any of the features or aspects can be provided byany of a user management and session controller, a wager controller, anapplication controller, and/or an interactive controller within a sidepool interleaved wagering system without deviating from the spirit ofthe invention.

Although various components of side pool interleaved wagering systemsare discussed herein, side pool interleaved wagering systems can beconfigured with any component as appropriate to the specification of aspecific application in accordance with embodiments of the invention. Incertain embodiments, components of a side pool interleaved wageringsystem, such as user management and session controller, an applicationcontroller, a wager controller, and/or an interactive controller, can beconfigured in different ways for a specific side pool interleavedwagering system.

Operation of Side Pool Wagering Interleaved Systems

FIG. 8 is a sequence diagram of interactions between components of aside pool interleaved wagering system in accordance with variousembodiments of the invention. The components of the side poolinterleaved wagering system include a wager controller 902, such aswager controller 102 of FIG. 1, an application controller 904, such asapplication controller 112 of FIG. 1, and an interactive controller 906,such as interactive controller 120 of FIG. 1. The process begins withthe interactive controller 906 detecting a user performing a userinteraction in a user interface of an interactive application providedby the interactive controller 906. The interactive controller 906communicates application telemetry data 908 to the applicationcontroller 904. The application telemetry data includes, but is notlimited to, the user interaction detected by the interactive controller906.

The application controller 904 receives the application telemetry data908. Upon determination by the application controller 904 that the userinteraction indicates a wagering event, the application controller 904communicates wager data 912 including a wager request to the wagercontroller 902. The request for a wager event may include wager termsassociated with a wagering proposition.

The wager controller receives the wager data and uses the wager data toexecute (913) a wager in accordance with a wagering proposition. Thewager controller 902 communicates a wager outcome 914 of the executedwager to the application controller 904.

The application controller 904 receives the wager outcome and determines(915) interactive application instructions and resources 916 for theinteractive application. The application controller 904 communicates theinteractive application instructions and resources 916 to theinteractive controller 906. The application controller also communicateswagering telemetry data 920 including the wager outcome to theinteractive controller 906.

The interactive controller 906 receives the interactive applicationinstructions and resources 916 and wagering telemetry data 918. Theinteractive controller 906 incorporates the received interactiveapplication resources and executes the received interactive applicationinstructions (918). The interactive controller updates (922) anapplication user interface of the interactive application provided bythe interactive controller using the interactive applicationinstructions and the resources, and updates (922) a wagering userinterface using the wagering telemetry data.

In several embodiments, a user can interact with a side pool interleavedwagering system by using Cr for wagering in accordance with a wageringproposition along with AC and elements in interactions with aninteractive application. Wagering can be executed by a wager controllerwhile an interactive application can be executed by an interactivecontroller and managed with an application controller.

FIG. 9 is a collaboration diagram that illustrates how resources such asAC, Cr, elements, and objects are utilized in a side pool interleavedwagering system in accordance with various embodiments of the invention.The collaboration diagram 1000 illustrates that Cr 1002, interactiveapplication resources including elements and objects 1004 and AC 1006can be utilized by a user 1008 in interactions with a wager controller1010, such as wager controller 102 of FIG. 1, an application controller1012, such as wager controller 112 of FIG. 1, and an interactivecontroller 1014, such as interactive controller 120 of FIG. 1, of a sidepool interleaved wagering system. The contribution of elements andobjects such as included in resources 1004, can be linked to a user'saccess to credits, such as Cr 1002 and/or AC 1006. Electronic receipt ofthese credits can come via a smart card, voucher or other portablemedia, or as received over a network from a server. In some embodiments,these credits can be drawn on demand from a user profile located in adatabase locally on a side pool interleaved wagering system or in aremote server.

A user's actions and/or decisions can affect an interactive applicationof interactive controller 1014 that consume and/or accumulate AC 1004and/or resources 1004 in an interactive application executed by aninteractive controller 1014, a wager controller 101 and an applicationcontroller 1012. The application controller 1012 can monitor theactivities taking place within an interactive application executed by aninteractive controller 1014 for wagering event occurrences. Theapplication controller 1012 can also communicate the wagering eventoccurrences to the wager controller 1010 that triggers a wager of Cr1002 in accordance with a wagering proposition executed by the wagercontroller 1010.

In several embodiments, the user commences interaction with the sidepool interleaved wagering system by contributing credit to a side poolinterleaved wagering system such as, but not limited to, Cr 1002 thatmay be credit in a real currency or may be credit in a virtual currencythat is not fungible with a real currency, AC 1006 that may beapplication environment credits, and specified types of interactiveapplication elements and/or objects 1004. One or more of thesecontributions may be provided directly as currency and/or transferred inelectronically. Electronic transfer may come via a smart card, voucheror other portable media, or as transferred in over a network from a userdata server or side pool interleaved wagering system user management andsession controller. In many embodiments, contributions may be drawn ondemand from user accounts located in servers residing on the network orin the cloud on a real time basis as the credits, elements and/or objectare committed or consumed by the side pool interleaved wagering system.Generally, Cr is utilized and accounted for by the wager controller1010; and the resources 1004 and AC 1006 are utilized and accounted forby the application controller 1012 and/or the interactive controller1014. The user interacts (a) with an interactive application provided bythe interactive controller 1014 with the interaction representing anaction by the user within the context of the interactive application.The interactive controller 1014 receives the user interaction andcommunicates (b) the interaction to the application controller 1012. Theapplication controller 1012 receives the interaction and determines fromthe interaction whether or not a wager should be triggered. If a wagershould be triggered, the application controller 1012 communicates (c)wager data about a wager in accordance with a wagering propositionassociated with the interaction and thereby triggers a wager. The wagercontroller receives the wager data and executes the wager in accordancewith the wagering proposition, and consumes (d) an appropriate amount ofCr 1002 for the wager. The wager controller 1010 adjusts (e) the Cr 1002based upon a wager outcome of the wager and communicates (f) the wageroutcome to the application controller 1012 as to the outcome of thewager triggered by the application controller 1012. The applicationcontroller 1012 receives the wager outcome. The application controllerdetermines what resources 1004 should be provided to the interactivecontroller and communicates (g) the resources 1004 to the interactivecontroller. The interactive controller receives the resources from theapplication control and integrates them into the execution of theinteractive application provided by the interactive controller 1014.

In some embodiments, the application controller 1012 communicates (h)data about the wager outcome to the interactive controller. Theinteractive controller receives the wager outcome and displays the wageroutcome to the user 1008.

In some embodiments, the application controller 1012 determines whatresources and instructions to provide to the interactive controller 1014for use by the interactive application provided by the interactivecontroller 1014 partially on the basis of the wager outcome. In somesuch embodiments, resources are provided in a case that the wager was awinning wager for the user. In other such embodiments, fewer or noresources are provided in a case of a losing wager.

In some embodiments, the application controller 1012 determines whatresources to provide based on internal logic of the applicationcontroller 1012. In some such embodiments, the application controller1012 employs a random result generator, such as a P/RNG, to generate arandom result and the random result is used to determine what resourcesare provided to the interactive controller 1014.

In several embodiments, the application controller 1012 determines anincrement or a decrement of an amount of AC 1006 using the interactionsreceived from the interactive controller. The increment or decrementedamount is communicated (i) to the interactive controller for display tothe user.

In some embodiments, the application controller 1012 executes a wager ofCr as a virtual currency, AC, elements or objects. In some suchembodiments, the application controller 1012 employs a random resultgenerator, such as a P/RNG, to generate a random result and the randomresult is used to determine a wager outcome in Cr as a virtual currency,AC, elements or objects.

The following is description of an embodiment of the describedcollaboration where an interactive application provided by aninteractive controller of a side pool interleaved wagering system is afirst person shooter game. The process begins by a user selecting amachine gun to use in the game and then fires a burst of bullets at anopponent. The interactive controller can communicate to the applicationcontroller of the user's choice of weapon, that a burst of bullets wasfired, and/or the outcome of the burst. The application controllercommunicates to the wager controller that 3 credits (Cr) are to bewagered on the outcome of a wagering event to match the three bulletsconsumed. The wager controller then performs the wagering event anddetermines the result of the wager and may determine the winnings from apaytable. The wager controller consumes 3 credits of Cr for the wagerand executes the specified wager. By way of example, the wagercontroller may determine that the user hit a jackpot of 6 credits andreturns the 6 credits to the Cr and communicates to the applicationcontroller that 3 net credits were won by the user.

The application controller communicates to the interactive controller toadd 3 bullets to an ammunition clip. The interactive controller adds 3bullets back to the ammo clip. The ammunition may be added by directlyadding the ammunition to the clip or by allowing the user to find extraammunition during use. The application controller logs the new userscore (AC) in the game (as a function of the successful hit on theopponent) based on the interactive controller communication, and adds 2extra points to the user score since a jackpot has been won. Theapplication controller then adds 10 points to the user score (AC) giventhe success of the hit which in this example is worth 8 points, plus the2 extra point. Note that this example is only intended to provide anillustration of how credits flow in a side pool interleaved wageringsystem, but is not intended to be exhaustive and only lists only one ofnumerous possibilities of how a side pool interleaved wagering systemmay be configured to manage its fundamental credits.

In many embodiments, user management and session controller 1020, suchas user account controller 150 of FIG. 1, of a side pool interleavedwagering system is used to store AC for use of the user. In such anembodiment, AC is generated by the application controller based on theuser's use of the side pool interleaved wagering system and an amount ofthe AC is communicated to the user management and session controller1020. The user management and session controller stores the amount of ACbetween user sessions. In some embodiments, the user management andsession controller communicates an amount of AC to the applicationcontroller at the start of a user session for use by the user during auser session.

A side pool for an interleaved wagering system may provide for multipleusers to compete against each other. In some embodiments, a scoreattained by each of the users for the interactive application may becompared against each other to determine one or more winners. In someembodiments, the interactive application is an interactive game. In someembodiments, the interactive game is a skill-based interactive game. Insome embodiments, the interactive game is a chance-based interactivegame. In some embodiments, the multiple user competition is atournament. In some embodiments, wagering outcomes are not considered aspart of the score, for comparison between users, and only skill-basedaspects of the user's interaction with the interleaved wagering systemare considered in determining the score.

As users participate in the competition, a portion of each wager theinterleaved wagering system makes based on the user's actions takenduring the user's skillful execution of the interactive application isplaced in a side pool. In some embodiments, the user who wins thecompetition between one or more other users is awarded the funds in theside pool. In some embodiments, the winner is determined based on ascore. In an embodiment where the competition is a tournament withmultiple participants, the side pool is awarded to the winner of thetournament. In this way, the user with the most skillful execution ofthe interactive application may be rewarded with proceeds contributedfrom the individual wagers that have occurred throughout all of theusers' interactions with the interleaved wagering system. In someembodiments, more than one user may have the funds in the side pooldivided amongst them.

In some embodiments, the side pool is used to fund a tournament, whereinthe winner of each head to head competition advances to a next roundwhere the process is then repeated. The winner of the tournament isawarded with the proceeds from the side pool. In many embodiments, theside pool could also be used to pay out runners up as well as otherparticipants.

In some embodiments, an in-application screen displays the size of theside pool at that time. In a tournament setting, the in game screenadditionally shows how many users remain in a bracket.

FIG. 10 is a diagram of interactions between various embodiments of thesystem and processes in accordance with various embodiments of theinvention. FIG. 10 illustrates a competition session with two users. Thefirst user 1202 is associated with a first interactive controller 1214,a first application controller 1222, and a first wager controller 1238,each as described herein. The second user 1204 is associated with asecond interactive controller 1216, a second application controller1224, and a second wager controller 1240, each as described herein.

The first interactive controller 1214 provides a presentation to thefirst user 1202 (1210). The first user 1202 communicates first useractions 1206 to the first interactive controller 1214. The firstinteractive controller 1214 receives the first user actions 1206 fromthe first user 1202. In some embodiments, the first user actions areindications of commands to elements of the interactive application viaan input device. In an example embodiment, the first user actionscomprise manipulation of characters in an interactive sports game, usinga keyboard and mouse, or a touchscreen input.

The first interactive controller 1214 communicates first user actions tothe first application controller 1222, and the first applicationcontroller 1222 receives the first user actions from the firstinteractive controller 1214 (1218). The first application controller1222 communicates interactive application resources to the firstinteractive controller 1214, and the first interactive controller 1214receives the interactive application resources from the firstapplication controller 1222 (1218).

Similarly, the second interactive controller 1216 provides apresentation to the second user 1204 (1212). The second user 1204communicates second user actions 1208 to the second interactivecontroller 1216. The second interactive controller 1216 receives thesecond user actions 1208 from the second user 1204. In some embodiments,the second user actions are indications of commands to elements of theinteractive application via an input device. In an example embodiment,the second user actions 1208 comprise manipulation of characters in aninteractive sports game, using a keyboard and mouse, or a touchscreeninput.

The second interactive controller 1216 communicates second user actionsto the second application controller 1224, and the second applicationcontroller 1224 receives the second user actions from the secondinteractive controller 1216 (1220). The second application controller1224 communicates interactive application resources to the secondinteractive controller 1216, and the second interactive controller 1216receives the interactive application resources from the secondapplication controller 1224 (1220).

The first application controller 1222 communicates first user wagers tothe first wager controller 1238 based on the received first useractions, and the first wager controller 1238 receives the first userwagers from the first application controller 1222 (1234). The firstwager controller 1238 generates a wager outcome and communicates thewager outcome to the first application controller 1222, and the firstapplication controller 1222 receives the generated wager outcome fromthe first wager controller 1238 (1234). Based on the wager outcome, thefirst application controller 1222 communicates first user AC to thefirst user AC storage 1230 (1226). The first user AC storage 1230receives the first user AC from the first application controller 1222(1226).

Similarly, the second application controller 1224 communicates seconduser wagers to the second wager controller 1240 based on the receivedsecond user actions, and the second wager controller 1240 receives thesecond user wagers from the second application controller 1224 (1236).The second wager controller 1240 generates a wager outcome andcommunicates the wager outcome to the second application controller1224, and the second application controller 1224 receives the generatedwager outcome from the second wager controller 1240 (1236). Based on thewager outcome, the second application controller 1224 communicatessecond user AC to the second user AC storage 1232 (1228). The seconduser AC storage 1232 receives the second user AC from the secondapplication controller 1224 (1228).

The first wager controller 1238, in executing a wager, receives firstuser wagers 1246 from an RC meter associated with the first user 1250.The amount wagered may be determined by the user. The first user RCmeter 1250 communicates first user wagers 1246 to the first wagercontroller 1238. If the wager outcome is a success, the RC meter 1250receives first user winnings 1242 from the first wager controller 1238.The first wager controller 1238 communicates first user winnings 1242 tothe RC meter 1250.

Similarly, the second wager controller 1240, in executing a wager,receives second user wagers 1244 from an RC meter 1252 associated withthe second user. The RC meter 1252 communicates second user wagers 1244to the second wager controller 1240. If the wager outcome is a success,the RC meter 1252 receives second user winnings 1248 from the secondwager controller 1240. The second wager controller 1240 communicatessecond user winnings 1248 to the RC meter 1252.

During the wagering, the first wager controller 1238 may communicate tothe side RC pool 1266, a contribution of funds. The manner ofcontribution, including the amount won and the source of the funds maybe determined by a mode used. In some embodiments, the users contributesthe same amount of RC at each wager request. In some embodiments, theusers may agree on the amount to be contributed to the side pool, or theamount may be set by the competition operator. In some embodiments, theamounts contributed by each user are different. In some embodiments, anapplication manager's hold mode 1254, a user commitment mode 1256,and/or a user winnings mode 1258 may be used. The application manager'shold mode 1254 is a mode where the contribution amount is adjusted inproportion to the ratio of the users' denominated wagers. For example,if the first user 1202 is making wagers of 100 credits for each wager,and a second user 1204 is making wagers of only 10 credits for eachwager, the contribution from the first user's wagers is reduced suchthat both the first user 1202 and the second user 1204 are contributingequally to the pool. In the user commitment mode, the contribution tothe RC side pool 1266 is made before the wager is executed. That is, thecontribution is deducted from each user's RC meter regardless of whetherthe user's wager outcome is successful or not. In contrast, in the userwinnings mode 1258, the contribution is deducted from the winnings of auser. That is, there is no contribution to the RC side pool 1266 from auser unless the user's wager outcome is successful.

Similarly, during the wagering, the second wager controller 1240 maycommunicate to the side RC pool 1266, a fund contribution using theapplication manager's hold mode 1260, the user commitment mode 1264,and/or the user winnings mode 1262, as described herein.

Upon conclusion of the competition and a determination of one or morewinners being made, the funds in the RC side pool 1266 may becommunicated to the appropriate RC meter (e.g., 1250 or 1252). Theindication regarding the winner of the competition may be received froman interactive controller or a tournament manager, as described herein.

FIG. 11 is a diagram of the structure of a side pool interleavedwagering system in accordance with various embodiments of the invention.The system includes an interactive controller 1302, an applicationcontroller, 1304, and a wager controller 1306, as described herein. Theinteractive controller 1302 may provide an interactive application. Insome embodiments, the interactive application is an interactive game. Insome embodiments, the interactive game is a skill-based interactivegame. In some embodiments, the interactive game is a chance-basedinteractive game.

The system further includes a side pool controller 1308. The side poolcontroller 1308 may be operatively connected to the applicationcontroller 1304, the wager controller 1306, and a tournament controller1310. In some embodiments, the connection is via a network. The sidepool controller 1308 is responsible for managing the side pool. The sidepool controller 1308 receives, from the wager controller 1306 funds tocontribute to the side pool. The side pool controller 1308 may receivefunds to contribute to the side pool from other wager controllers (notshown). The side pool controller 1308 also receives an indicationregarding the outcome of the competition, and communicates funds to thewager controller associated with the winning user. The side poolcontroller 1308 may also be responsible for managing the rules by whichcontributions are made to the side pool. In an example embodiment, thewager controller 1306 communicates a request to the side pool controller1308 for a rule regarding the contribution of funds to the side pool.The side pool controller 1308 receives the request for the ruleregarding the contribution of funds to the side pool, and the side poolcontroller 1308 communicates to the wager controller 1306, the ruleregarding the contribution of funds to the side pool. The wagercontroller 1306 receives the rule from the side pool controller 1308 andimplements the rule when making contributions to the side pool.

In some embodiments, if players are wagering in different denominations,the users may be grouped by wagering denomination or the total amountcontributed per wager is equal to the lower better (so the player withthe higher wagers commits less to the pot on a percentage basis). Insome embodiments, p players are awarded the side pool when they win theskill-based entertainment game even if they are no longer making wagers.The award could be limited in this embodiment. Such a mechanismreinforces the fact that winning the game will result in a monetaryprize.

The system further includes a tournament controller 1310. The tournamentcontroller 1310 may be operatively connected to the applicationcontroller 1304 and the side pool controller 1308. In some embodiments,the connection is via a network. The tournament controller 1310 isresponsible for managing the competition between the users. In someembodiments, the tournament controller 1310 receives information fromthe application controller 1304 regarding a user's performanceinformation, such as a user score for the interactive application. Theapplication controller 1304 communicates the user's performanceinformation to the tournament controller 1310. In some embodiments, thetournament controller 1310 communicates an indication regarding theoutcome of the competition, to the side pool controller 1308. The sidepool controller 1308 receives, from the tournament controller 1310, theindication regarding the outcome of the competition and communicates thefunds of the side pool to the appropriate wager controllers.

In some embodiments, a group of individual users may participate in ahead-to-head interactive application that is an interactive game,wherein each of the users accrues a game score for their skillfulexecution of the interactive game. In such a game, awards of one or moreportions of the side pool are made at the end of the game based on therankings of the individual users.

In some embodiments, two or more groups of individual user mayparticipate in a head-to-head interactive application that is aninteractive game, wherein each group of users and each of the usersaccrues a game score for their skillful execution of the interactivegame. In such a game, awards of one or more portions of the side poolare made at the end of the game based on the rankings of the individualplayers within the group or groups that won the interactive gamecompetition.

As described herein, the wager controller 1306 makes contributions tothe side pool based on a contribution mode. The contribution mode may bechosen by the user. The user indicates, to the interactive controller1302 the contribution mode. The interactive controller 1302 receives,from the user, the contribution mode. The interactive controller 1302communicates the contribution mode to the application controller 1304.The application controller 1304 receives the contribution mode from theinteractive controller 1302 and communicates the contribution mode tothe wager controller 1306. The wager controller 1306 receives thecontribution mode from the application controller 1304 and makescontributions to the side pool controller 1308 based on the receivedcontribution mode.

In some embodiments, the side pool controller 1308 receives thecontribution mode as well. The side pool controller 1308 may determine acontribution amount for each user based on the contribution mode. In anexample embodiment, if a first user chooses a contribution mode whereeach user contributes 10 real world credits, and a second user chooses acontribution mode where each user contributes 100 real world credits,the side pool controller 1308 may determine that the lower amount shouldbe used. Upon determining the contribution mode, which includes thedetermination of the contribution of 10 real world credits, the sidepool controller 1308 communicates the contribution mode to the wagercontroller 1306. The wager controller 1306 receives the contributionmode from the side pool controller 1308 and makes contributions based onthe received contribution mode.

FIGS. 12A-12D are diagrams of various embodiments of structures of aside pool interleaved wagering system in accordance with the invention.In each of the embodiments, two users are shown, but any number of usersmay be included in the system.

FIG. 12A includes a first user 1402 and a second user 1404. The firstuser 1402 and the second user 1404 share use of the interactivecontroller 1406. The system includes an interactive controller 1406, anapplication controller 1408, a wager controller 1410, a side poolcontroller 1412, and a tournament controller 1414, each as describedherein. In this embodiment, the interactive controller 1406, whichprovides the interactive application, may be shared by the first user1402 and the second user 1404. In some embodiments, the first user 1402and the second user 1404 share the interactive controller 1406 byalternating turns. In some embodiments, the first user 1402 and thesecond user 1404 share the interactive controller 1406 by simultaneoususe of the interactive controller 1406. In some embodiments, the devicethat includes the interactive controller 1406 is operative to allow forsimultaneous use by one or more users. Each user may have their ownindividual accounts for management of credits. As described herein, theusers compete using the system and in addition the funds that may beawarded based on the wagering outcome, funds accumulated in the sidepool are awarded to an RC meter associated with the winning user.

FIG. 12B includes a first user 1416 and a second user 1418. The firstuser 1416 and the second user 1418 are each associated with acorresponding interactive controller (1420 and 1426, respectively), acorresponding application controller (1422 and 1428, respectively), anda wager controller (1424 and 1430, respectively). The interactivecontrollers, application controllers, and the wager controllers are asdescribed herein. Each application controller (1422 and 1428) isconnected to the tournament controller 1434 and the side pool controller1432. The interactive controllers (1420 and 1426) are also connected toeach other. In some embodiments, the connection between the interactivecontrollers is a peer to peer configuration or network. The interactivecontrollers exchange information regarding the interactive applicationcompetition. The first interactive controller 1420 communicatesinformation associated with the interactive application competition tothe second interactive controller 1426. The second interactivecontroller 1426 receives the information associated with the interactiveapplication competition from the first interactive controller 1420.

The information associated with the interactive application competitionmay include: a score of the user, an identifier of the user, a timeelapsed, or an amount of credits wagered or amount of credits earned.One or all of the interactive controllers (1420 and 1426) may determinewhich user is the winner of the competition, and communicate thisinformation to the tournament controller 1434. The tournament controller1434, upon receiving the information regarding the winner of thecompetition, communicates an identification of the winning user to theside pool controller 1432. The side pool controller 1432 receives theidentification from the tournament controller 1434 and transfers thefunds for the side pool to the wager controller (1424 or 1430)associated with the winning user.

FIG. 12C includes a first user 1436 and a second user 1438. The firstuser 1436 and the second user 1438 each have a corresponding interactivecontroller (1440 and 1446, respectively), a corresponding applicationcontroller (1442 and 1448, respectively), and a wager controller (1444and 1450, respectively). The interactive controllers, applicationcontrollers, and the wager controllers are as described herein. Eachapplication controller (1442 and 1448) is connected to the tournamentcontroller 1456 and the side pool controller 1454. Each interactivecontroller (1440 and 1446) is connected to a session manager 1452, whichmaintains a mutual or master application state. Compared with theinteractive controllers of FIG. 12B, the interactive controllers in FIG.12C are not connected to each other. Instead, they are connected to thesession manager 1452, which receives competition information from eachof the interactive controllers (1440 and 1446) and determines a winnerof the competition. The session manager 1452 communicates to thetournament controller 1456, the winner of the competition. Thetournament controller 1456 receives, from the session manager, theidentification of the winner of the competition and communicates to theside pool controller 1454 the identification of the winner of thecompetition. The side pool controller 1454 receives, from the tournamentcontroller 1456 the identification of the winner of the competition andcommunicates funds associated with the side pool to the wager controllerassociated with the winning user.

FIG. 12D includes a first user 1458 and a second user 1460. The firstuser 1458 and the second user 1460 each have a corresponding interactivecontroller (1462 and 1464, respectively). The system includes anapplication controller 1466, a wager controller 1468, a side poolcontroller 1470, and a tournament controller 1472, each as describedherein. The interactive controllers (1462 and 1464) are connected to theapplication controller 1466. The interactive controllers (1462 and 1464)communicate to the application controller 1466, information associatedwith the interactive application competition, as described herein. Theapplication controller 1466 receives the information associated with theinteractive application competition and determines a winner of thecompetition. The application controller 1466 communicates to thetournament controller 1472 an identification of the winner of thecompetition. The tournament controller 1472 receives the identificationof the winner of the competition and communicates the identification ofthe winner of the competition to the side pool controller 1470. The sidepool controller 1470 receives the identification of the winner of thecompetition and communicates the funds associated with the side pool tothe wager controller associated with the winner of the competition.

FIG. 13 is a sequence diagram of interactions between components of aside pool interleaved wagering system in accordance with variousembodiments of the invention. The system includes an interactivecontroller 1502, an application controller 1504, a wager controller1506, a side pool controller 1508, and a tournament controller 1510,each as described herein. The interactive controller 1502 provides aninteractive application. In some embodiments, the interactiveapplication is an interactive game. In some embodiments, the interactivegame is a skill-based game. In some embodiments, the interactive game isa chance-based game. In some embodiments, a user of the interactiveapplication may participate in a competition between one or more otherusers of the interactive application.

The interactive controller 1502 communicates application telemetry tothe application controller 1504 (1512). The application telemetry mayinclude information associated with an interactive applicationcompetition. The information may include user identification, userscore, or time elapsed during a session of the interactive application.The application controller 1504 receives the application telemetry fromthe interactive controller 1502 (1512).

The application controller 1504 communicates tournament information tothe tournament controller 1510 (1514). The tournament information mayinclude the application telemetry received from the interactivecontroller 1502. The tournament information may also include anidentifier associated with the application controller 1504 and the wagercontroller 1506. The tournament controller 1510 receives the tournamentinformation from the application controller 1504 (1514).

The application controller 1504 also generates a wager request based onthe received application telemetry, and communicates the wager requestto the wager controller 1506 (1516). The wager controller 1506 receivesthe wager request from the application controller 1504 (1516). The wagercontroller 1506 communicates funds for the side pool to the side poolcontroller 1508 (1518). The amount of funds to be communicated to theside pool controller 1508 and the situations in which funds arecommunicated to the side pool controller 1508 are as described herein.The side pool controller 1508 receives funds for the side pool from thewager controller 1506. In some embodiments, the side pool controller1508 receives funds for the side pool from multiple wager controllers.

The wager controller 1506 generates a wager outcome (1520) based on thereceived wager request and communicates the wager outcome to theapplication controller 1504 (1522). The application controller 1504receives the wager outcome from the wager controller 1506 (1522). Theapplication controller 1504 determines application resources to beawarded based on the received wager outcome and communicates theapplication resources to the interactive controller 1502 (1524). Theinteractive controller 1502 receives the application resources from theapplication controller 1504 (1524).

Upon completion of the competition, the tournament controller 1510communicates competition results to the application controller 1504(1526). The application controller 1504 receives the competition resultsfrom the tournament controller 1510 (1526). The application controller1510 communicates the competition results to the interactive controller1502 (1528). The interactive controller 1502 receives the competitionresults from the interactive controller 1502 (1528). The interactivecontroller may display the results to the user. The applicationcontroller 1504 may award application resources based on the competitionresults.

In addition, upon completion of the competition, the tournamentcontroller 1510 communicates to the side pool controller 1508 anidentification of the side pool winner (1530). The side pool controller1508 receives, from the tournament controller 1510, the identificationof the side pool winner (1530). The identification of the side poolwinner may include the user identification associated with the winninguser of the competition and also the amount won by the user. In someembodiments, the tournament controller 1510 receives the identificationof the winner from the interactive controller, the applicationcontroller, a session manager, or the tournament controller 1510determines the identification of the winner.

The side pool controller 1508 communicates the funds for the side poolaward to the wager controller 1506 (1532). The wager controller 1506receives the funds for the side pool award from the side pool controller1508 (1532). The wager controller 1506 that receives the funds for theside pool award is the wager controller associated with the winninguser. In some embodiments, more than one user is a winner, so the sidepool controller 1508 communicates funds to the wager controllersassociated with the winning users.

While the above description may include many specific embodiments of theinvention, these should not be construed as limitations on the scope ofthe invention, but rather as examples of embodiments thereof. It istherefore to be understood that the present invention can be practicedotherwise than specifically described, without departing from the scopeand spirit of the present invention. Thus, embodiments of the presentinvention described herein should be considered in all respects asillustrative and not restrictive.

What is claimed:
 1. A side pool interleaved wagering system, comprising:an interactive controller operatively connected to an applicationcontroller, the interactive controller constructed to: provide aninteractive application; generate a graphical display of the interactiveapplication; receive, from a user, an indication to participate in acompetition with one or more other users, wherein the competition isassociated with an interactive application provided by the interactivecontroller; distribute, to the application controller, a userinteraction within the interactive application detected by theinteractive controller; generate a graphical status display for a sidepool competition within the interactive application; and a wagercontroller operatively connected to the application controller, thewager controller constructed to: receive, from the applicationcontroller, a wager request; distribute, to a side pool controller,funds for a side pool, wherein the distributed funds are a portion of awager amount associated with the wager request; generate a wager outcomebased on the wager request using a random number generator; communicate,to the application controller, the wager outcome; and receive, from theside pool controller, funds from the side pool when the user is a winnerof the competition; and the application controller operativelyconnecting the interactive controller to the wager controller by anetwork, the application controller constructed to: receive, from theinteractive controller, the user interaction; distribute, to the wagercontroller, the wager request based on the received user interaction;receive, from the wager controller, the wager outcome; receive, from theside pool controller, the status of the side pool competition; anddistribute, to the interactive controller, the status of the side poolcompetition.
 2. The side pool interleaved wagering system of claim 1,wherein the interactive controller and the application controller areconstructed from a same device, and the application controller isoperatively connected to the wager controller by the network.
 3. Theside pool interleaved wagering system of claim 1, wherein the wagercontroller and the application controller are constructed from a samedevice, and the application controller is operatively connected to theinteractive controller by the network.
 4. The side pool interleavedwagering system of claim 1, wherein the application controller isoperatively connected by the network to the wager controller and theinteractive controller.
 5. The side pool interleaved wagering system ofclaim 1, wherein an amount of the funds distributed from the wagercontroller to the side pool controller is determined by the user and theone or more users in the competition.
 6. The side pool interleavedwagering system of claim 1, wherein an amount of funds distributed fromthe wager controller to the side pool controller is determined by anoperator of the competition.
 7. The side pool interleaved wageringsystem of claim 1, wherein the funds for the side pool, distributed fromthe wager controller to the side pool distributed, are communicatedbefore generating the wager outcome.
 8. The side pool interleavedwagering system of claim 1, wherein the funds for the side pool aredistributed from the wager controller to the side pool controller whenthe wager outcome is successful, and the funds for the side pool aredistributed after generating the wager outcome.
 9. The side poolinterleaved wagering system of claim 1, wherein the applicationcontroller is further constructed to: distribute, to a tournamentcontroller, tournament information comprising the received userinteraction; and receive, from the tournament controller, uponconclusion of the competition, competition results, and the tournamentcontroller is constructed to: receive, from the interactive controller,the tournament information; determine a winner of the competition basedon the received tournament information; and distribute, to theapplication controller, competition results, including the winner of thecompetition.
 10. The side pool interleaved wagering system of claim 9,wherein the tournament controller is further constructed to receive,from one or more interactive controllers associated with the one or moreother users in the competition, tournament information associated withthe one or more other users, and wherein the determination of the winnerof the competition is further based on the received tournamentinformation associated with the one or more other users.
 11. A networkedapplication controller of a side pool interleaved wagering system,comprising: an interactive controller interface operatively connectingthe networked application controller to an interactive controller of theside pool interleaved wagering system; a wager controller interfaceoperatively connecting the networked application controller to a wagercontroller of the side pool interleaved wagering system; and one or moreprocessors constructed to: receive, from the interactive controller, auser interaction within an interactive application provided by theinteractive controller using a graphical display, wherein theinteractive application is associated with a competition involving auser and one or more other users; distribute, to a tournamentcontroller, tournament information comprising the received userinteraction; distribute, to the wager controller, a wager request basedon the received user interaction, the wager request triggering acommunication of funds for a side pool from the wager controller to aside pool controller, the funds for the side pool being a portion of awager amount associated with the wager request; receive, from the wagercontroller, the wager outcome based on a result from a random numbergenerator; receive, from the tournament controller competition statusbased on the received user interaction; and distribute the competitionstatus to the interactive controller.
 12. The networked applicationcontroller of claim 11, wherein the interactive controller and thenetworked application controller are constructed from a same device, andthe networked application controller is operatively connected to thewager controller by a network.
 13. The networked application controllerof claim 11, wherein the wager controller and the networked applicationcontroller are constructed from a same device, and the networkedapplication controller is operatively connected to the interactivecontroller by a network.
 14. The networked application controller ofclaim 11, wherein the networked application controller is operativelyconnected by a network to the wager controller and the interactivecontroller.
 15. The networked application controller of claim 11,wherein an amount of the funds distributed from the wager controller tothe side pool controller is determined by the user and the one or moreusers in the competition.
 16. The networked application controller ofclaim 11, wherein an amount of funds distributed from the wagercontroller to the side pool controller is determined by an operator ofthe competition.
 17. The networked application controller of claim 11,wherein the funds for the side pool, distributed from the wagercontroller to the side pool controller, are distributed before the wageroutcome is generated.
 18. The networked application controller of claim11, wherein the funds for the side pool are distributed from the wagercontroller to the side pool controller when the wager outcome issuccessful, and the funds for the side pool are distributed after thewager outcome is generated.
 19. The networked application controller ofclaim 11, wherein the one or more processors are further constructed to:distribute, to a tournament controller, tournament informationcomprising the received user interaction; and receive, from thetournament controller, upon conclusion of the competition, competitionresults, wherein the competition results are determined by thetournament controller based on the received tournament information. 20.The networked application controller of claim 19, wherein thedetermination of the competition results is further based on tournamentinformation associated with the one or more other users.